Dan Johnson qualifies for nationals as men tie for 11th at New Englands
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Dan Johnson qualified for his second appearance at the NCAA Division III national championships. |
Complete race results here.
SPRINGFIELD, Mass. — Bates College senior Dan Johnson qualified for the NCAA Championship Saturday by placing fourth overall at the New England Regional Championships at Springfield College.
Johnson (Detroit Lakes, Minn.) finished the race in 25:26.8, a 5:08-mile pace, and 3.4 seconds behind Joshua Kennedy of Tufts. Wesleyan’s Owen Kiely won in 25:01.4, followed by Williams’ Neal Holtschulte in 25:10.0.
“Dan ran a tough, hard-nosed race,” said head coach Al Fereshetian. “It’s a great accomplishment for him to reach the nationals, and he’s in position to do very well there.”
Johnson will run at nationals Nov. 19 at Ohio Wesleyan University. He placed 48th overall at nationals last season, when Bates competed as a team, after a 13th-place finish at the 2004 New England Regionals.
The Bobcats were tied with Amherst for 11th out of 43 teams with 272 points. Tufts won the event.
Junior Steve Monsulick (Kents Hill, Maine) followed up his win at last week’s ECAC Championship with a solid 25th-place finish, but short of qualifying for nationals. Monsulick covered the course in 26:22.8.
Monsulick was followed by Bates sophomore Matt Dunlap (Farmington, Maine), whom Fereshetian praised as racing “very well and tough”, in 58th place at 26:53.1. Dunlap’s classmate Harrison Little (Hanover, N.H.) also came through with a very strong race, at 27:13.0 for 80th place overall, followed by senior Matt Biggart (Cheshire, Conn.) in 105th at 27:42.6; senior William Kenney (Washington, D.C.) in 106th at 27:46.9, and sophomore Andrew Percy (Woodbridge, Conn.) in 166th at 29:03.9.