Brunswick, ME -- On Saturday, November 12th, the Colby Men's Cross Country Team raced at the NCAA D3 East Regional Meet and captured a third place finish, with five runners achieving All-Region honors. Coming into the meet ranked 17th in the country, the Mules qualified for the NCAA D3 National Meet for the fourth time in program history.

Hosted by Bowdoin College, the East Regional Meet was held on a rainy, hot and humid day. Despite the wet conditions, nearly a hundred Colby fans --some of whom were painted blue from head to toe-- came to the meet and created an electric racing atmosphere for the Mules. The Mules raced the standard 8-kilometer (4.97-mile) distance through the mud and heat.


Ben Mellor near the front of the race

Winning the meet (and scoring first for Colby) was a familiar name: Tyler Morris. The senior handily defeated a very strong field, running 24:55. Finishing second for Colby was Ben Mellor. The Senior finished in 9th place overall with a time of 25:36. Behind Mellor was the first-year phenomenon Chris Gould. Gould ran a 26:02 for 19th place.

Rounding out Colby's scoring five were James Boyle (SO, 23rd, 26:16) and Nick Peterson (SR, 33rd, 26:34). All members of Colby's scoring five earned All-Region honors by placing in the top-35. In addition to earning All-Region honors, Morris, Mellor and Gould earned All-New England honors with their top-20 finishes.


Nick Peterson closing out the scoring 5

Winning the meet was #2 MIT. With six runners finishing in the top-8 in this meet, MIT has a very legitimate chance at winning the national title this year.

Up next is the NCAA D3 National Championships. This meet will take place on Saturday, November 19th at 12pm EST. The link to the livestream of the meet is at the bottom of this page. Hosted in Lansing, MI on the Michigan State University home course, this meet is expected to be one of the snowiest and coldest National Championships in NCAA history. The temperature at gun time is forecasted to be 25ºF, with windchill of 14ºF, and snow is already piling up on the course. This will create a unique racing environment for the Mules, who are no strangers to below-freezing cold temperatures, wind and snow. The Mules are well-prepared, having flown to Michigan on Wednesday, and they will be looking to finish as highly as possible against the best D3 teams in the nation. Rival NESCAC schools Bates, Connecticut College, Middlebury, Tufts and Williams will be racing full rosters as well.

Team Results:
1 -- #2 MIT -- 21 pts.
2 -- #30 Bates -- 72
3 -- #17 Colby -- 82
4 -- #31 Tufts -- 116
5 -- Bowdoin -- 166

Individual Results:
1 -- Tyler Morris -- 24:55.6
9 -- Ben Mellor -- 25:36.6
19 -- Chris Gould -- 26:02.8
23 -- James Boyle -- 26:16.4
33 -- Nick Peterson -- 26:34.6
39 -- Gordon Doore -- 26:57.5
43 -- Liam Carcich -- 27:16.7

Previous National Championships Finishes:
2014 -- 5th
2019 -- 16th
2021 -- 22nd

Link to Nationals Livestream