NEWVILLE, Penn. – The Carleton College men's cross country team finished 28th at the NCAA Division III Championships as the Knights returned to Nationals for the first time as a team since 2019.
 
In a sense of symmetry, this was also the 28th overall trip to the NCAA Championships for the Knights, who happened to be ranked No. 28 in the most recent USTFCCCA national poll.
 
A fifth-place result at last weekend's NCAA North Region Championships put the Knights squarely on the bubble for a bid to Nationals. As it turned out, Carleton was the last team invited for the 32-team field at this year's competition.
 
"Our men ran great," said head coach Dave Ricks. "We thought that we could get 30th, but with a great race, we finished 28th."
 
Three other squads were less than 20 points ahead of Carleton
 
The Knights had a tight finish with only 24.0 seconds separating their five scoring runners. That was the tightest spread of any team in the field. In fact, 24 of the 32 entrants had spreads of more than 60 seconds.
 
"Our top-5 all ran well over a tough course," said Ricks. "They have been consistent all season.  Our sixth and seventh runners had good races as they beat some people while having to chase them down the whole race."
 
Sophomore Roy Llewellyn ended up as Carleton's top finisher on the day. He was 129th with a time of 25:53.5. He was back in 209th place after the first mile but steadily worked his way up through the rankings, improving 80 slots by the conclusion of the race. Classmate Gabe Nichols was close behind, posting a time of 25:55.6 to finish 134th.
 
Junior Chris Melville was third across the line for Carleton with a mark of 26:08.3. He improved 106 spots during the race, vaulting from 270th of 294 after the opening mile to 164th by the finish line.
 
Sophomore Indy Lyness was 271st after the opening mile but like his teammates he passed numerous runners throughout the day and finished 173rd with a time of 26:10.2. He improved 42 places over the last 2,000 meters alone, the third-largest individual late-race surge in the field.
 
Henry Bowman, the lone senior in the lineup, completed his fourth NCAA Cross Country Championships with a time of 26:17.5, good for 196th place. He jumped 81 spots from the first mile mark to the end of the race. Bowman is the first Knight since the turn of the 21st century to race at four NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships.
 
Josh Meier and Ryan Bernstein did not factor in the team's scoring as they covered the 8-kilometer distance in 27:47.6 and 27:55.7, respectively, to place 289th and 292nd.
 
Carleton was 32nd of 32 teams when the two-mile splits were tabulated as teams headed into the very hilly, wooded section of the course. By the time the Knights departed the forest, they had moved up to 29th place at the 5-kilometer mark by surging 117 points, most in the field over the wooded portion of the course.
 
Carleton held steady over the next kilometer, then improved another 65 points over the final 2000 meters thanks to the third-best late-race surge in the field.
 
"Our top five guys ran consistently well all season long," said Ricks. "We just have a great collection of really smart, interesting guys who work hard every day and help each other."
 
No. 8-ranked Pomona-Pitzer won its third team title since 2019, overtaking No. 1 UW-La Crosse over the final 2,000-meter to prevail by a single point, 158-159. No. 2 North Central (169 points), No. 7 Williams (212), and No. 5 Wartburg (232) rounded out the top five.