RAPID CITY, S.D. – The regionally-ranked Carleton College men's cross country team started the season at the Hardrocker Classic hosted by the South Dakota School of Mines. The Knights put four runners inside the top-10 en route to a second-place finish in the team competition.
 
"It was a great start to a new season, one that will be exciting due to many unknowns," said Carleton head coach Dave Ricks. "We competed against three Division II teams from the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and held our own. It was great to jump in a race against entirely new competition."
 
The Knights finished second out of four teams, as Black Hills State totaled 37 points, followed by Carleton (40 points), South Dakota mines (46), and Chadron State (108).
 
Carleton's top seven racers on this day were all upperclassmen. Senior Stephen Lavey (Cedar Grove, Wis./Cedar Grove-Belgium) finished third overall with a time of 26:08.62 on the 8-kilometer course, while classmate Ben Santos (Boulder, Colo./Boulder) finished fourth at 26:12.71. Juniors Henry Bowman (Lafayette, Colo./Centaurus) and Zak Sather (Eau Claire, Wis./Eau Claire Memorial) crossed the line sixth and 10th, respectively, with times of 26:28.18 and 27:03.05.
 
Senior Adam Nakasaka (Chevy Chase, Md./Bethesda-Chevy Chase) wrapped up the scoring by finishing 17th with a time of 27:32.24.
 
"Other teams remember that we graduated multiple time All-Americans Matt Wilkinson '21 and Lucas Mueller '21, but they'll find out that the cupboard is far from bare," said Ricks. "The guys who were the understudies at the 2019 NCAA National Championships got their chance to star in leading roles today. Stephen Lavey, Ben Santos, Henry Bowman, and Zak Sather are all returners from our team that took 11th place at Nationals. Today they were our top-four runners, followed by Adam Nakasaka, Elijah Jones (Jr./Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead) and Ben Chao (Jr./Rocky River, Ohio/University School).
 
Up Next for the Knights
After concluding their training trip with time in Wyoming and Montana, the Knights will return to campus and prepare for the St. Olaf Invitational on Sept. 18.