Mangelsdorf Caps Career as All-American

Senior Wylie Mangelsdorf represented Principia cross-country at the Division III National Championship meet this Saturday. After placing second at the regional meet the weekend before, coming in just seven seconds behind the first place finisher, Wylie earned himself a spot at nationals.

Wylie was relaxed and all smiles as he started his warm-up an hour before the race. Starting in box number 27, he was in the middle of just under 300 runners. Shouts and chants were heard from all around as spectators and teammates cheered for their runners. The gunshot went off and Wylie got out as fast as he could in an effort to put himself in the front pack. Running just behind the racer in first, Wylie and the front runners came through the first kilometer quickly, with a time just over three minutes. Wylie continued to look relaxed as the race progressed, staying in the front pack. The runners weaved in and out of long switchbacks and in and out of the woods. Spectators were lining the edges of the course and sprinting from point to point trying to get a glimpse of what was happening.

As Wylie made it to the second half of the race, he was sitting in the back of the front pack and still running strongly. He wound his was through the last few turns and right before he hit the final stretch he spotted Coach Chuck Wilcoxen in the crowd. Chuck offered one last piece of encouragement before Wylie took off and kicked towards the finish line. He finished in fifth place with a time of 24:47.1, making him an All-American.

COURTESY OF PRINCIPIA SPORTS INFORMATION