East Lansing, MI

Facing midwinter weather, the nations thirty-two best men's cross country teams and seventy best individuals across NCAA Division III congregated at Forest Akers Golf Club on the campus of Michigan State University to contest the 2022 Cross Country Championships.

Organizers spent Thursday and Friday ahead of the Championships plowing roughly four inches of snow from the race course.  Temperatures dropped Saturday to the low twenties Fahrenheit, with wind chills in the single digits at race time.

It was welcome weather for Lars Dewall (Stillwater, Minn./Stillwater HS) (Jr. Stillwater, MN), who was making his NCAA Championship debut, and also competes in Nordic skiing for the Saints in the winter.

The 8km (4.97 miles) individual title was successfully defended by last year's champion, Alex Phillip of John Carroll University, in 24:37.6, out-kicking last weekend's North Regional champion, Christian Patzka of UW Whitewater, by 2.4 seconds. His winning time was 1:10 slower than that in 2021, exhibiting the challenging conditions of the day.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology won the team title with 82 points over Wartburg (IA) in 2nd with UW LaCrosse finishing 8th as the top North Region Team.  St. Olaf was the lone MIAC team in the field, finishing 14th.

Dewall started fast clocking in at 48th place at the first mile, in five minutes flat.  While he positioned himself well for a run at an All-American (top 40) finish, the first mile proved too quick today as Dewall slid back subtly through the remaining 4 miles, to a final finishing spot of 120th place in the field of 294.  He was the 6th finisher among MIAC runners in the field.

Dewall's finish ties Calvin Boone's (St. Paul, Minn./St. Paul Highland Park HS) (So. St. Paul Highland Park) 120th place finish at the 2021 Championship as the Saints second-best ever. Chris Lawson's 95th-place finish in 2014 remains the best finish in Saints program history, among the 3 historical qualifiers.

The Championship ends the Saints 2022 Cross Country season