Spalding's Deng, Principia's Mangelsdorf Qualify for NCAA DIII Championships

ST. LOUIS - Spalding University's Abram Deng and Principia College's Wylie Mangelsdorf both qualified at-large for the NCAA Division III Men's Cross Country Championships. Deng placed seventh overall at the Great Lakes Regional hosted by Anderson University (Ind.), while Mangelsdorf placed 12th at the Midwest Regional hosted by University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.

Deng posted a time of 25:21.64 on the 8K course and led Spalding to a 16th place finish out of 37 teams competing at the Great Lakes Regional. Teammate Haile Jemane was the only other Spalding runner to place in the top 50. Jemane ran a time of 26:19.88 to place 46th out of 256 total runners.

Mangelsdorf was the top SLIAC runner at the Midwest Regional with a time of 24:48.07. He led Principia to a 13th place finish out of 39 teams competing. Westminster College (Mo.), Greenville College, Webster University and Fontbonne University also posted team scores, placing in 25th, 28th, 30th and 38th respectively.

Principia's Derrick Fleming and Adam Rolph, along with Westminster's Matt Borst, all placed in the top 100. Fleming and Rolph finished 13 seconds apart in 71st and 81st place respectively with times of 26:07 and 26:20. Borst was not far behind with a time of 26:42 for 99th place out of 271 total runners.

Greenville's top runner was Ross Baker, who ran a time of 26:45 for 102nd place. Webster's Ethan Jeffries finished in 119th place with a time of 27:01, while Fontbonne's Justin Hornerker had a time of 27:59 for 166th place. Eureka College's Zach Ahrends also ran as an individual entry and placed in 154th with a time of 27:35.20.

Thirty-two teams were selected to participate in the NCAA DIII Men's Cross Country Championship. The top two, seven-person teams automatically qualified from each of eight regions, for a total of 16 teams. Sixteen additional teams were selected at-large. Fifty-six individuals, the first seven athletes form each region who are not a part of a qualifying team, were also selected to participate in the championship.

The Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology will host the NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships this Saturday, November 17, at the LaVern Gibson Course in Terre Haute, Ind. The men's race will begin at 11:00am local time.