UW-La Crosse Wins Second Straight NCAA Men’s Cross Country Championship

SPARTANBURG, S.C.--University of Wisconsin-La Crosse won its second straight NCAA Division III Men’s Cross Country Championship at Roger Milliken Cross Country course at the Roger Milliken Center on Nov. 22.

It is the fifth national title in program history (1996, 2001, 2005, 2024) and 10th won by a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) program. Since the 1982-83 academic year, WIAC institutions have combined to win 133 NCAA Division III team championships.

UW-La Crosse won this year’s title with 82 points. State University of New York Geneseo was second with 132 points, Wartburg College (Iowa) third with 133, New York University (N.Y.) fourth with 175 and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (N.Y.) fifth with 182.

Additional WIAC teams securing a spot in the standings included: UW-Stevens Point 18th with 464 points; UW-Platteville 19th with 470; UW-Eau Claire 27th with 649; and UW-Whitewater 30th with 779. A total of 32 teams competed in the national event that was hosted by Converse University (S.C.) and OneSpartanburg, Inc. It is the first time in conference history that five teams recorded a team score at the NCAA Division III championship.

Emmanuel Leblond of Johns Hopkins University (Md.) claimed the individual title with a time of 23:35.0 on the 8,000-meter course. A total of 291 runners completed the race.

A total of six WIAC runners in earned All-America accolades from the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. UW-La Crosse’s Grant Matthai took fifth with a time of 23:53.7, UW-La Crosse’s Aidan Matthai seventh in 23:55.2, UW-La Crosse’s Jayden Zywicki ninth in 24:02.7, UW-La Crosse’s Joey Sullivan 17th in 24:16.2, UW-Oshkosh’s Cameron Cullen 20th in 24:26.8 and UW-Eau Claire’s Jack Hesse-Withbroe 24th in 24:31.6.

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