Case Western Reserve University senior Aidan Nathan earned all-conference honors and first-year Donovan Crowley was named the conference Rookie of the Year, as the Spartans finished sixth out of eight teams at the 2024 University Athletic Association Championship at Highland Park in Attleboro, Massachusetts on Saturday afternoon.

CWRU finished the meet with 144 total points to finish sixth overall, placing behind eighth-ranked NYU (34), 16th-ranked Carnegie Mellon (50), 19th-ranked WashU (72), 23rd-ranked Emory (107), and Chicago (125). Finishing behind the Spartans were Rochester (192) and Brandeis (242).

Nathan completed the 8K course in a time of 24:45.8 to finish 12th overall out of 80 runners and earn a spot on the All-University Athletic Association Second Team. Crowley, who was the top finishing first-year runner, followed with a career-best time of 25:12.6 to place 23rd overall and secure UAA Rookie of the Year honors.

Sophomore Jacob Slater added a season-best time of 25:40.6 to finish 35th overall, and first-year Adam Esa crossed the line right next to him with an identical time of 25:40.6 (a new career-best) to place 36th. Graduate student Stephen Henry added a mark of 25:48.1 to cross the line 42nd overall and round out the list of scorers for the Spartans.

Senior Nate Gilbert and sophomore Seth Tivakaran completed the team's top seven with Gilbert notching a season-best time of 25:51.2 to place 44th and Tivakaran crossed the line in 48th place with a season-best mark of 25:56.7. Also recording season-best times were seniors Michael Lombardi (56th, 26:06.5) and Luke Kishna (58th, 26:08.5), while junior Ethan Richter was 70th with a time of 26:52.6.

Carnegie Mellon's Matthew Coyle won the individual conference title, placing first overall with a time of 24:21.0.

The Spartans are scheduled to send a contingent of athletes to the Wooster Twilight 5K Challenge in Wooster, Ohio next Friday, November 8, while the team's top runners will prepare for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional on Saturday, November 16 in Shelbyville, Indiana.

Spartan Notes

• Eight of the 10 Spartans who competed on Saturday finished with season-best times, led by career-best marks from Crowley and Esa.

• Crowley became the first Spartan since Jack Begley in 2019 to earn UAA Rookie of the Year honors. He joins Begley and Aaron Johnston-Peck (2003) as the only runners in program history to be named the UAA Rookie of the Year. Both Begley (2023) and Johnston-Peck (2004) went on to win the individual UAA Championship over their careers.

• Nathan's 12th-place finish was a 10-spot improvement on his previous best finish at the UAA Championships. He placed 40th as a first-year in 2021, 22nd in 2022, and 26th last year. This was the first All-UAA honor of his career.

• The Spartans matched their finish from last season's UAA Championship when the team also placed sixth, scoring 143 points.