Jonathan Dahlke led the pack as the 17th ranked University of Mount Olive finished 29th at the NCAA DII Men's Cross Country National Championships Saturday afternoon in Joplin, Mo.
Dahlke (31:30.5) finished 106th, Jacob Urys (32:08.9) was 163rd, Adam Craig (32:14.3) was 169th, and Michael Munoz (32:21.3) was 174th to complete Mount Olive's scoring. Fredric Lang (32:44.3) was 197th Aki Kitagawa (33:06.2) was 217th and Pol Domenech-Ferrer (33:22.5) was 229th.
In the team standings, Mount Olive compiled 701 points to finish 40 points ahead of 30th-place Bentley (Mass.) and 90 points behind 28th-place Saint Leo (Fla.). Colorado Mines jumped over No. 1 Adams State to eliminate the chance for Adams State to claim its fourth consecutive National Championship.
Mount Olive entered the championship ranked No. 17 in the Top 25 and had been ranked as high as No. 14 during the season. The Trojans finished second to Mars Hill among the three Southeast Region teams Saturday.
The UMO men's cross country team was making its fourth consecutive appearance in the National Finals, the most by any Trojan team in any sport. Kitagawa and Munoz are the only Trojans in any sport to compete in the National Finals in four consecutive years. Mount Olive finished 19th overall last season.
