Titans Run To 11th-Place Finish At NCAA Championship

Nate Stymiest's (Jr. • Oconto Falls) All-America performance led the UW-Oshkosh men's cross country team to an 11th-place finish at the NCAA Division III Championship held Saturday (Nov. 20) at the Max Cross Country Course in Waverly, Iowa.

Haverford College (Pa.) won the 32-team meet with 87 points, while defending champion North Central College (Ill.) finished second with 104 and St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) third with 137. The national title was the first for the Fords.

Rounding out the top 10 teams were fourth-place UW-Platteville with 198 points, fifth-place Dickinson College (Pa.) with 204, sixth-place UW-Stevens Point with 226, seventh-place State University of New York-Geneseo with 233, eighth-place Calvin College (Mich.) with 277, ninth-place Washington University (Mo.) with 297 and 10th-place New York University with 314. UW-Oshkosh placed 11th with 337 points.

All five of Haverford College's scoring runners finished ahead of the All-America cut (35th place), including Anders Hulleberg who won the 8,000-meter race with a time of 24:22. Ben Sathre of the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) finished second among the meet's 279 runners with a time of 24:23, while Michael Spain of North Central College placed third in 24:24, Steve Kiplagat of St. Lawrence University fourth in 24:25 and Mike Heymann of State University of New York-Plattsburgh fifth in 24:28.

Stymiest, who was making his third appearance at the national meet, navigated his way around the course in a seventh-place time of 24:31. He finished 209th at the event in 2009 and 59th in 2008.

Also contributing to UW-Oshkosh's team score were Jordan King (So. • Stevens Point), John Dewitt (So. • Oshkosh), Mike Jarchow (Jr. • Oshkosh) and Jake Keehan (Jr. • Green Bay). King finished 69th with a time of 25:17, while Dewitt placed 83rd in 25:21, Jarchow 123rd in 25:37 and Keehan 173rd in 25:54.

Other UW-Oshkosh competitors at the meet were William Koepp (Sr. • Lake Nebagamon) and Erik Hofferber (Fr. • Neenah). Koepp finished 204th with a time of 26:11 and Hofferber 223rd in 26:20.

Saturday's meet also marked the end of a grand era as John Zupanc coached the UW-Oshkosh men's cross country team for the final time. Zupanc announced in October that he would retire as both the head men's cross country coach and head men's track and field coach at UW-Oshkosh in January.

During Zupanc's 29 years as head men’s cross country coach, UW-Oshkosh qualified for the NCAA Division III Championship 20 times. The appearances were highlighted by 14 top 10 finishes, including first-place listings in 1988, 1989, 1990 and 2002. Zupanc coached 21 runners to a total of 37 All-America awards.