Contact: Adam Poklop, Sports Information Graduate Assistant, 630-637-5302
Results
WINNECONNE, Wis. (Oct. 19, 2019) – A 34-team field at Saturday's Kollege Town Sports Invitational that featured five of the nation's top-10 schools proved no match for the North Central College men's cross country team, who landed all of its scorers in the top-15 on the way to a convincing victory in the weekend's most competitive Division III meet.
North Central stayed patient during the early stages, sitting in fourth at the 3,000-meter mark, while ninth-ranked Pomona-Pitzer led the race. By the 5K mark, the Cardinals had surpassed the Sagehens and only lengthened their lead in the race's second half as they fought their way to their most impressive victory of the season.
Matt Osmulski—who last toed the line at Lake Breeze Golf Course for the 2018 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships where he earned All-America honors and helped win North Central's 19th national title—cruised in the front of the pack for the race's duration, ultimately finishing second among 452 competitors with a time of 24 minutes and 50.3 seconds.
Alec Beutel was the next Cardinal through the line in 25:04 for fifth, followed by
Gabe Pommier (25:16.3) in tenth.
Alex Makrounis (25:22.5) and
Zach Chapman (25:23.8) crossed the finish line in 14th and 15th, respetively.
Nick Licari (25:29.9) added a 17th-place finish, while
Campbell Koch (25.35.9) came through in 24th-place.
The Cardinals totaled 46 points for a decisive 33-point victory, followed by Pomona-Pitzer with 79 points and third-ranked Wartburg College with 102 points. Tenth-ranked University of Chicago (105 points) and fourth-ranked Washington University (105 points) rounded out the top-5 finishers.
The Cardinals are idle until Nov. 2 when they travel to Rock Island in search of the program's 46th-consecutive College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) title.
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