CANTON, N.Y. —
The U.S. Coast Guard Academy men's cross country team competed at the NCAA Mideast Regional Championship on Saturday, hosted by St. Lawrence University. The team had a solid showing, finishing tenth overall with two athletes earning All-Region honors.
It was a cold and muddy day in upstate New York, which led to a somewhat tactical and crowded start to the race.
Paul Hobbs (Vacaville, Calif.) and
Brendan Fant (East Lyme, Conn.) put themselves right in the mix with the lead pack. After two miles, the leaders began pushing the pace and strung out the field, with Hobbs in the middle of the pack and Fant holding on the to back of it. Both were able to hang tough in the second half of the race, with Hobbs finishing 28th overall and Fant in 32nd for both men to earn All-Mideast honors.
As he has been all year,
James Kuduk (Harleysville, Pa.) was the third finisher for the bears in 60th place after he made around a dozen passes from the first mile through the finish.
Graham Fenn (Hyattsville, Md.) was again CGA's fourth runner, closing out an outstanding first collegiate season in 79th overall, one of the better regional finishes for a Bears freshman in recent history.
Miles Taylor (Austin, Tex.) was fifth for the bears, finishing in 99th, while
Malachi Morris (Chino Hills, Calif.) and
Carlos Garcia (Bristow, Va.) were sixth and seventh
on the team with respective finishes of 113th and 128th.
Hobbs and Fant will now await Selection Sunday to see if they'll qualify for Nationals. Once the 32-team field for the championship is set, the top seven individual runners from each region who aren't on a qualified team will be selected to compete. Based on current standings and polls, Hobbs will likely be the sixth individual selection out of the mideast, while Fant sits just one spot out from qualifying.
"This team has a lot to be proud of as the season wraps up for most of them," says Coast Guard head coach
Greg Ahnrud. "We'll find out for sure tomorrow, but Paul should be the first men's cross country runner since Gary Ezzo in 2014 to qualify for the national meet. Brendan is likely going to just miss joining Paul at NCAAs, but he's had one of the most remarkable year-on-year improvements I've seen in my time here. On top of their excellent seasons, we have a young and talented core of runners on this roster that are making great progress and will be capable of big things in the future."
