Results
Spartanburg, S.C. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's cross country team captured its second consecutive National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III Championship Saturday morning at the Roger Milliken Cross Country Course in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
The Eagles won their fifth (1996, 2001, 2005, 2024, 2025) national title with 82 team points. SUNY Geneseo was second with 132 points, Wartburg College (Iowa) third with 133 and New York University fourth with 175.
RPI (N.Y.) placed fifth (182) followed by Johns Hopkins University (Md.) sixth (216), Tufts University (Mass.) seventh (255), Pomona-Pitzer College (Calif.) eighth (258), Massachusetts Institute of Technology ninth (259) and North Central College (Ill.) 10
th (259). A total of 32 teams competed.
Four runners earned NCAA Division III All-America honors on Saturday with all placing in the top-17. The Eagles'
Grant Matthai was fifth overall, completing the 8,000-meter course in 23:53.7.
Aidan Matthai was seventh (23:55.2),
Jayden Zywicki ninth (24:02.7) and
Joey Sullivan 17th (24:16.2).
UWL's
Mason Brown finished 71st (25:02.1) Saturday with
Chuck Vater 72nd (25:02.2) and
Nico Castellanos 100th (25:18.9).
It is the second career NCAA Division III All-America honor for all four runners.
Grant Matthai was third last season after finishing 70th in 2022 and 63rd in 2023.
Aidan Matthai finished fifth a year ago after placing 171st in 2022 and 76th in 2023.
Zywicki earned All-America honors with a 20th-place finish in 2024 while Sullivan earned recognition with a 16th-place showing last season. Sullivan also finished 59th in 2023.
Vater was making his second career appearance after finishing 69th in 2024.
Brown and Castellanos were both competing in their first career NCAA III Championship.
Emmanuel Leblond of Johns Hopkins (Md.) won the individual national title on Saturday (23:35.0). A total of 291 runners completed the race.
UWL, making its 38th appearance in the NCAA Division III Championship, have 30 top-six finishes in school history at the national meet, including 17 in the top-three. UWL was second in 2017 and 2023.
The Eagles placed eighth in 2022, 10th in 2021 and seventh in 2019. UWL finished third in 2013, 2014 and 2018 and fourth in 2012. UWL was sixth in 2016. The 2020 championships were canceled due to the COVID-19 public health threat.
With
Grant Matthai,
Aidan Matthai and Zywicki finishing in the top-10 on Saturday, UWL now has 22 top 10 individual finishes in school history.
Two runners have won the NCAA Division III individual title with
Brett Altergott in 1997 and
Ethan Gregg in 2023. Altergott also finished eighth in 1996, and Gregg was fourth in 2022.
Jim Bachelor placed second in 1986 and third in 1987 while
Mike Junig was fourth in 1987. Other top 10 finishes include:
Mahdi Omar (fourth) in 1993;
Brad Wilson in 1996 (seventh) and 1997 (fourth);
Dan Peso (sixth) in 1999;
Tyler Foos (third) and
Ross Substad (seventh) in 2001;
Paul Zdroik (fifth) in 2007,
Josh Schraeder in 2018 (fourth) and 2019 (fifth) and
Tyler Nault in 2019 (eighth).
UWL head coach
Derek Stanley has led the men's squad to eight top four finishes at the NCAA Division III Championships. Along with two national titles (2024, 2025), the Eagles were second in 2017 and 2023. The Eagles placed eighth in 2022, third in 2013, 2014 and 2018 and fourth in 2012. UWL finished ninth in 2015, sixth in 2016 and 10th in 2021.
Stanley has led UWL to 10 (2012-13, 2017-19, 2021-25) Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championships.
