Men's Cross Country | 10/3/2014 3:00:00 PM

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

SOUTH BEND, Ind. (Oct. 3, 2014) - Toppling each of the 15 NCAA Division I programs which joined it on the starting line, the North Central College men's cross country team trailed only one of the top Division II squads in the land in the Gold Division race at Friday's Notre Dame Invitational, placing second in a 23-team field at Notre Dame Golf Course.

The Cardinals entered the meet ranked No. 1 among all NCAA Division III programs and totaled 82 points to finish behind only Grand Valley State University (Michigan), currently the No. 2-ranked team in Division II. The Lakers put five runners in the top 25 to win the meet with 71 points. Southern Illinois University, ranked 13th in the Midwest Region at the Division I level, placed third with 109, followed by the University of Windsor (Ontario) with 192 and Duquesne University (Pennsylvania) with 199.

The individual champion in Friday's 174-man race was Luis Vargas of Elon University (North Carolina), who cruised through the five-mile course in 23 minutes, 30.9 seconds to triumph by nearly 30 seconds over runner-up Alan Peterson of Grand Valley. As he did in his three previous competitive efforts this season, Troy Kelleher led North Central's contingent, placing sixth overall in a time of 24:14.7. He was followed across the line by teammate Aron Sebhat in seventh, just two seconds behind at 24:16.7.

Ryan Root turned in a 16th-place showing for the Cardinals, whose scoring was rounded out by Ken Hoffman in 26th (24:52.6) and Tim Vazquez in 27th (24:52.9).

North Central returns to action next Friday at St. James Farm in Warrenville, competing in the Benedictine University Eagle Invitational at 4:00 p.m.