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.
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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.
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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).
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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.
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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.
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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.
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