Pomona-Pitzer (men), Johns Hopkins (women) Capture 2019 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships
Patrick Watson, Stevenson and Parley Hannan, Ithaca Win Men’s and Women’s Titles
Louisville, Ky. – November 23, 2019 – Pomona-Pitzer Colleges (men) and Johns Hopkins University (women) won the team titles at the 2019 NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships today at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park in Louisville, Ky. Patrick Watson of Stevenson University won the men’s eight kilometers individual title with a time of 24:13.9, and Parley Hannan of Ithaca College won the women’s six kilometer title in 20:53.8.
Sixty-four teams and 560 student-athletes competed this morning under overcast skies, intermittent sprinkles of rain and 40-degree temperatures.
Paced by seventh-place finisher Ethan Widlansky, Pomona-Pitzer won the team title with a score of 164 points. Favored North Central College (Ill.) came in second with a score of 182, edging out third-place finisher Williams College at 183. Washington University in St. Louis was fourth with a score of 193.
Johns Hopkins was paced by three runners in the top 25 – Sam Levy (17th), Rebecca Grusby (21st) and Ariel Keklak (23rd) – for a team score of 125, finishing ahead of runner up WashU with a score of 138 and third-place Williams College with 168. University of Chicago finished fourth with a score of 208.
In the men’s individual standings, Watson finished ahead of runner-up Matthew Wilkinson of Carleton College (24:19.6); third-place finisher Thomas D’Anieri of Claremont McKenna-Harvey Mudd-Scripps Colleges (24:25.2); and fourth-place finisher Jared Pangallozzi of Johns Hopkins (24:31.7).
“For a while I thought maybe I had made my move too early,” Watson said. “But I’ve won every time this season that I’ve gone to the lead early, so I felt good toward the end.”
In the women’s individual standings, Hannan finished ahead of runner-up Genny Corcoran of State University of New York at Geneseo (21:11.8); third-place finisher Isabel Cardi of Dickinson College (21:19.9); and fourth-place finisher Whitney Rich of Whitman College (21:23.6).
“I grew up running in the snow and the mud, and these are conditions that I love,” Hannan said. “Cross country runners are used to these conditions, and it wouldn’t be nearly as exciting of a race if there weren’t those aspects to it.”
This event marked the second time that Spalding University and the Louisville Sports Commission have hosted the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships and the 11th time that the NCAA cross country championships across Divisions I, II and III have been held at Sawyer State Park.