The Case Western Reserve University men's cross country team notched its first top-20 national finish in 18 years, placing 19th overall out of 32 teams at the 2021 NCAA Division III Championships in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday morning.
The Spartans finished the meet with a combined team score of 539 to earn their 19th-place finish. It was the team's best finish since 1986, when the squad placed seventh overall at the meet, and was the eight top-20 finish in program history.
CWRU was led by senior Trey Razanauskas, who placed 45th overall out of 289 runners in the 8K race with a school-record time of 24:25.7. His mark bettered the previous school-record time of 24:34.7, set by junior Jack Begley earlier in the year.
Begley was the Spartans' second finisher, placing 82nd overall with a time of 24:41.9. Junior Robert St. Clair crossed the line in a time of 25:07.4, his fastest of the season and second-best in his career, finishing 158th overall. Completing CWRU's scoring five were first-year Aidan Nathan in 217th place with a career-best time of 25:39.6 and senior Logan Singer in 22nd place with a time of 25:40.8.
Rounding out the top seven for CWRU on Saturday were first-year Nate Gilbert in 244th place with a time of 25:50.9 and junior Liam O'Reilly in 266th place with a time 26:08.6, both career-best marks.
The 2021 NCAA Division III Team Championship was claimed by Pomona-Pitzer, which finished with a score of 18. MIT followed in second place with a score of 112, and Williams placed third with 167 points.
John Carroll sophomore Alex Phillip won the individual championship with a time of 23:27.6.
Saturday's meet concludes the 2021 season for Case Western Reserve.
