COLFAX, Wis. – The regionally-ranked Carleton College men's cross county team finished 11th of 31 teams at the NCAA Division III North Region Championships on Saturday.
 
Senior Gabe Nichols led the way for the Knights, earning All-Region recognition as he finished 20th with a time of 25:24.9. He continually moved up through the field throughout the race, sitting in 64th after the first mile but improving 19 spots over the next mile. He continued his surge over the final half of the race, climbing another 25 spots, including a big kick over the final 400 meters.
 
Classmate Indy Lyness was next across the line for Carleton with a time of 25:49.3. Like Nichols, he settled in early and then surged up the leaderboard, climbing from 82nd after 1600 meters to finish in 42nd place.
 
Senior Roy Llewellyn finished 91st with a time of 26:47.3, while sophomore Ravi Achar posted a time of 26:55.6 while placing 96th. Sophomore Travis Brown rounded out the scoring for the Knights, finishing 100th with a time of 27:04.3.
 
Senior Andrew Jamison and first-year Gus Schafer were also on the regional squad. The former was 103rd at 27:08.7, while the latter was limited by a pre-existing injury and the decision was made to shut him down after the 5000-meter mark.
 
The nation's top ranked squad from UW-La Crosse won the race with a score of 30, while No. 13-ranked UW-Stevens Point (110 points), No. 12 UW-Platteville (120), No. 20 St. Olaf (128), and No. 27 UW-Whitewater (166) rounded out the top five teams. Carleton finished with a team score of 346, once again holding off MIAC foes Macalester (351) and Saint John's (352).
 
Up Next for the Knights
The field for next week's NCAA Championships — to be comprised of the first-place team at each of the 10 regional championships plus 22 at-large teams from across the nation — will be announced on NCAA.com on Sunday, Nov. 16.
 
Additionally, the top seven runners not on an automatic qualifier or a selected at-large team receive invitations to compete as individual entrants. The Knights will have to wait until the NCAA announcement to see if Nichols receives one of the region's seven additional individual qualifying spots for Nov. 22 race in Spartanburg, S.C.