Men Repeat as USCAA National Champs; Lane Places First, Broncos Take Top Four

Men Repeat as USCAA National Champs; Lane Places First, Broncos Take Top Four

INDIVIDUAL RESULTS | TEAM RESULTS

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (November 10, 2017) – With arguably one of the best seasons in program history under their belts, the SUNY Delhi men's cross country team solidified their their triumphant season Friday morning by winning their second straight USCAA National Championship. Even more phenomenal was Kobie Lane, Nicholas Arnecke, Jon Messler and Lucas Reilly taking the top four individual spots, while Kevin Malen placed 13th to bolster Delhi to the team win with 23 points. The Broncos finished 55 points ahead of second-place SUNY ESF, with third-place Cleary registering 109 points.

Lane, a junior, topped the 8K field with a time of 25:58.77. Arnecke and Messler were right behind Lane, virtually crossing the finish line together, with Arnecke taking second at 26:06.50 and Messler third at 26:06.94. Reilly was not far behind, earning the fourth spot with a time of 26:59.41. Kevin Malen anchored the Broncos by placing 13th, good for All-American, with a time of 27:45.46. James Blough finished 23rd with a mark of 28:23.44, Jack Hopkins 27th at 28:31.16 and Ted Oster finishing 30th at 28:41.33.  

"This was a truly special performance for the men on this team," said head coach Robb Munro. "It is very rare that a situation comes around where everyone fires on all cylinders at the same time and today was one of those days. The front three guys did exactly what they needed to do. Lucas ran the best race of his life to complete the sweep of the top 4 places. I told the other four guys that I needed one of them to find their way to the top 30 individuals and all 4 of them did. Kevin, who didn't even make the travel roster a year ago, landed an All-American. They significantly exceeded expectations in a situation where the expectations were very high."

The Broncos' performance was a vast improvement over their championship performance in 2016. Last year, Delhi won the event with 46 points, with four Broncos in the top ten. Lane was fourth at 26:00, with Arnecke seventh at 26:19 and Messler anchoring the squad at 16th with a time of 26:57. Reilly was Delhi's last finisher, coming in 19th at 27:18.