1982 Men's Cross Country

1982 NCAA Division III National Champions

(Standing, from left) Joe Gross, John Leal, (kneeling) Bill Wahl, Ray Krauss,Bob Dunphey, Jay Rodgers, (sitting) Bill O'Neill, Al Carius and Tony Bleull. Running up front has become a tradition in cross country at North Central College, but last fall the perennial champions did it better than ever before. The Cardinals won their sixth National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division III national championship in the last eight years and they set a new record-low team total of 51 points in winning the 10th annual NCAA III Cross Country Championships at Tri-County Country Club in Forestville, N.Y. IT was the second consecutive national title for coach Al Carius' squad, and the Cardinals made it look easy. With four individual All-Americans, North Central easily outdistanced runner-up Brandies University, which finished second with 89 points. Nineteen eighty-two NCAA III National track and field champion Lassoer State College (N.DJ.) was third with 105 points. Junior All-American Tony Bluell of Magnolia paced the Cardinals with a fourth-place finish in 26:29. Sophomore All-American Bob Dunphey of Grayslake (26:39) and junior captain-elect Jay Rogers of Petersburg (25:45) finished sixth and ninth, respectively. Junior Ray Krauss of Tinley Park (26:57) was the fourth North Central runner to gain individual All-American honors, finishing 18th. Senior captain Bill O'Neill of Evergreen Park (27:27) was the Cardinals' No. 5 runner, while seniors Bill Wahl of Chicago (28:15) and John Leal of Aurora (29:27) completed North Central's squad in the 1982 field of 21 teams and 183 runners. Nicolae Manciu of College of St. Thomas (Minn.) won the individual title in a slow 26:06. The hilly, wind-swept 8,000-meter course just east of Lake Erie had been saturated by week-long rains and the extremely soft turf was made even more hazardous by lightly falling rain throughout the race. "It's hard to compare our national championship teams," said Carius after the race, "because they all had their own unique character and qualities. But if you use points and place as criteria, this 1982 squad is the best team we've ever had at North Central."   - excerpt from North Central NOW, Spring 1983 information provided by the College Archives