Miles Christensen Ends First Cross Country Season with Top-100 Finish at Nationals

OSHKOSH, Wis. - Freshman Miles Christensen capped off a strong freshman campaign by finishing 72nd out of 280 runners at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships on Saturday morning.

Christensen, who was the third-place finisher at the NCAA West Regionals last week, finished the 8K race in 25:24.7 to place first on the Stags and 72nd overall. As a team, CMS came in 27th out of the 32 teams in the field, while North Central (Ill.) dominated the field to earn the team title with the top two finishers (and four of the top 11). 

Sophomore Stevie Steinberg was the second Stag to cros the line, coming in with a time of 25:50.3 to place 142nd overall. Three freshmen then filled the 3-5 spots for CMS, with Kyril Van Schendel crossing in 26:09.5, followed by Alexander Hirsch in 26:12.7 and Thomas Fleming in 26:18.1 as the final scorer for the CMS. Sophomore Will Kimball (26:22.3) and senior Ben Iten (26:27.7) rounded the seven-runner contingent for CMS, which tied for the NCAA West Regional title last week. 

Dhruvil Patel of North Central was the top individual finisher in 24:24.5, winning by five seconds over teammate Al Baldonado.North Central's 43 points easily outdistanced Washington University in second place (110 points). Wisconsin-La Crosse, Haverford and Wartburg rounded out the top five. 

CMS extended its streak to 11 straight trips to the NCAA Division III Championships after earning the share its NCAA West Region title and will be in strong position to keep that streak going for the forseeable future, with four freshmen and a sophomore among its top five at nationals this year.