NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Results

Rock Island, Ill. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's cross country placed fifth at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Midwest Regional Saturday afternoon at Saukie Golf Course.  With the fifth-place finish, UW-L will await to see if it has earned an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Championships scheduled for Saturday, November 23 in Hanover, Indiana. 

The Eagles finished with 133 team points Saturday while North Central College (Ill.) won the regional with 56 points.  Washington University (Mo.) placed second (101) while UW-Oshkosh was third (118) and UW-Eau Claire fourth (128).  With its first and second-place finishes, North Central (Ill.) and Washington (Mo.) earn automatic bids to the national championships. 

The at-large bids will be announced Sunday, November 17. 

The University of Chicago, Ill. (220) placed sixth Saturday followed by Wheaton College, Ill. (233), UW-Stout (234), UW-Platteville (270) and Augustana College, Ill. (277) to round-out the top-10.  A total of 39 teams competed. 

UW-L's Alex Ciesielski placed 20th overall Saturday with a time of 24:59.3 on the 8,000-meter course.  The Eagles' Andrew Rohlman was 27th (25:07.3), Jacob Peterson 28th (25:08.3), Josh Dedering 30th (25:09.0) and Nate Routhier 32nd (25:14.8). 

Ciesielski, Rohlman, Peterson, Dedering and Routhier each earned NCAA III All-Midwest Region honors.

Tom Linner finished 40th (25:31.6) and Garrett Kerska placed 77th (26:17.3). 

"The men went in with their eyes on one goal, run in the top-five of the team standings to get a spot to nationals," said UW-L head coach Derek Stanley.  "We did not execute well today.  We put ourselves in a big hole at the start and were able to dig ourselves out of it.   The men looked too strong at the end of the race.  We need to burn some of that earlier in the race for better race positioning at nationals, which is something we did well last year."

"All of our men deserve credit for a solid performance," added Stanley.  "Alex Ciesielski led us, but we had many very close behind.  I'm excited to get both teams to the national meet and have the opportunity to compete for the national title.  It will be a great way to finish off the season."

John Crain of North Central (Ill.) won the individual title (24:17.2).  A total of 275 runners competed.

The NCAA Division III Championships are scheduled for Saturday, November 23 in Hanover, Indiana beginning at 11 a.m. (Central).