SPOKANE, Wash. – Colorado College’s James Settles, the league's Runner-of-the-Year, finished ninth at the NCAA Division III West Regional meet Saturday morning to lead all SCAC runners.
Settles performance paced the CC men, who led all SCAC squads with a fifth-place finish in a field represented by 22 different teams and 160 runners. The junior traversed the 8K course in a time of 24:45.0. It marked the best finish from a CC Tiger runner at the NCAA Regional meet since Nick Hall finished eighth in 2013. His performance has tentatively qualified him for next week’s NCAA Division III National Championship.
Pomona-Pitzer repeated as region champion and earned the automatic berth into next weekend’s NCAA championship meet with a team score of 36.
Colorado College totaled 163 points and placed three runners inside the top 35 to earn All-Region honors. After Settles’ nine-place individual finish, junior Delvin Swanson placed 21st in a time of 25:06.5 and sophomore Brett Kitazono finished 31st in a time of 25:30.6.
Trinity University finished eighth place with a score of 240, improving its team finish from a season ago by eight places. The TU Tigers were led by sophomore runner Will Salony, who earned All-Region honors with a 17th-place finish. After finishing 45th last year as a freshman, Salony competed the course this year in a time of 24:58.8. Rounding out the top three Trinity Tigers was sophomore Ryan Tresaugue and senior Ben Whittemore. Tresaugue finished 45th in a time of 26:00.0 and Whittemore was right behind in 46th crossing the line in 26:00.6.
St. Thomas competed in its first NCAA regional and took home 15th with 426 total team points behind Jhancarlos Carpio’s 43rdplace finish. The sophomore crossed the line in 25:57.6.
Southwestern rounded out the SCAC team performances with 500 total points to finish 18th. The Pirates were led by Xander Bailey who finished 88th with a time of 26:44.4.
Texas Lutheran’s Carlos Cura competed as an individual and finished 135th after crossing the line in 28:19.5.
A total of 32 teams will compete as a team at the NCAA Division III Championships, with the top finishing team from each of the 10 regions receiving an automatic bid and 22 bids awarded to at-large teams. In addition, 70 individuals, not on qualifying teams, earn automatic selection based on their finish at the regional.
The team and individual selections will be announced on Sunday, Nov. 13. The NCAA Division III Championship is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 19, in Lansing, Mich.
