Complete Results

LOUISVILLE, Ky. – Senior Ben Taber (Durham, Conn./Coginchaug Regional) closed out his tremendous cross country career with a solid performance at the NCAA Division III Championships on Saturday, placing 46th among 278 runners at E.P. "Tom" Sawyer" State Park.
 
In his 35th and final collegiate cross country race, Taber clocked a personal-record (PR) of 25:04 for the 8,000-meter course. He was in 64th place 2,000 meters into the race and continued to move up the rest of the way on a primarily flat course. He chipped four seconds from his PR set just one week ago at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional, where he qualified for the national meet with a fourth-place finish. It was the third meet in a row that Taber notched a PR.
 
Taber was the fifth finisher from the Mideast region, finishing behind only Ernie Pitone of Widener University (second, 24:09), Henry Woods of Haverford College (22nd, 24:45), Jaryd Flank of Muhlenberg College (26th, 24:47), and Schaffer Ochstein of Johns Hopkins University (39th, 24:59).
 
The first Gettysburg men's cross country national qualifier since 1998, he turned in the best finish by a men's or women's cross country runner at the national meet since Bill Gray '96 came in 33rd in 1994.
 
North Central College won the team title with 60 points while Ian LaMere of Wisconsin-Platteville defending his individual title, crossing in 23:40 and winning by 29 seconds.
 
Taber's performance capped a superb senior season in which he won three races and earned both All-Centennial Conference and All-Mideast Region honors for the second year in a row.