The Middlebury College (Vt.) women and the Haverford College (Pa.) men look to defend their titles as the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh hosts the 2011 National Collegiate Athletic Conference (NCAA) Division III Cross Country Championships on Saturday, Nov. 19 at the Lake Breeze Golf Club, 6333 Ball Prairie Road, Winneconne.
The women’s 6,000-meter race begins at 11 a.m., and the men’s 8,000-meter competition starts at noon. A total of 560 runners from 134 different schools will participate in the event, which was last hosted by UW Oshkosh in 1999. Each race will field 32 teams of seven runners, along with 56 individuals who received at-large selections. Admission is $10 per vehicle.
In the women’s division, the top 14 teams from the 2010 championship return. Middlebury College scored 185 points at last year’s meet to capture its sixth national title, while Washington University (Mo.) finished second with 193. Massachusetts Institute of Technology took third with 214 points, University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire fourth with 218 and Williams College (Mass.) fifth with 230.
The top returning runner for the 31st edition of the women’s race is UW Oshkosh’s Christy Cazzola. She placed fourth a year ago with her time of 21:18.
The men’s category has nine of the top-11 teams, including the top-three squads, from the 2010 championship. Haverford College counted 87 points to claim its first national title, while North Central College (Ill.) ranked second with 104 and St. Lawrence University (N.Y.) third with 137.
Ben Sathre of the University of St. Thomas (Minn.) is the top returning runner for the 39th version of the men’s race. Sathre finished second at last year’s meet with a time of 24:23. Also back from 2010 are Steve Kiplagat of St. Lawrence University and Nate Stymiest of the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh who placed fourth and seventh, respectively.
In addition to the six women’s national titles won by Middlebury College, State University of New York-Cortland has seven and the University of St. Thomas and UW Oshkosh four each.
North Central College boasts 11 national titles on the men’s side, while Calvin College (Mich.) and the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh own four each and the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse three.
Covering nine sports, UW Oshkosh has now been the host for the finals of 22 NCAA Division III Championships. In addition to men’s and women’s cross country, the school also hosted the baseball finals from 2000-09, the final in both women’s basketball and women’s volleyball in 1996, the men’s and women’s indoor track and field championships in 1994, 1997 and 2001 and the men’s and women’s outdoor track and field championships in 2007 and 2008.
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