To call the Tribe Men's Cross Country team a dynasty would be an understatement. This weekend, the men cruised to their ninth consecutive conference championship and the 16th in the program's history.
Leading the way for the Tribe was junior Colin Leak, who finished second overall in the race. Starting with Leak, the College had seven consecutive finishers in the race, taking places two through eight.
Leak, leading the way, finished the 8K race in 24 minutes even. Following him were classmate Jon Grey, sophomore Patterson Wilhelm, and junior Harry Miller, to round out the top five.
Sophomore Lewis Woodard finished sixth, leading an onslaught of Tribe runners who captured eight of the 6-19 slots in the race. Junior Charlie Swartz (Manassas, Va.) finished seventh just behind him, followed by sophomore Brian Sklowdowski in eighth in a time of 24:47 and freshman Peter Dorrell (Blacksburg, Va.) in 10th with his time of 24:50. Rounding out the members of the All-CAA team for the Tribe was redshirt-freshman Chris Tyson (Arlington, Va.) who finished the race in 11th place.
The Tribe had a total of 9 runners on the All-CAA team, and sophomore Jay Bilsborrow just failed to make the all-conference team, finishing in 13th with a time of 25:12. Sophomore Tom Burke (Edin, Minn.) ran 25:25 to finish in 17th, and classmate Skeeter Morris was the Tribe's final finisher, in 19th place.
The Tribe's effort at CAA's was convincing enough to earn them a ranking of 17th in the latest Men's Division I Cross Country National Poll, a jump of four spots. The College is ranked #2 in the Southeast Region rankings behind the University of Virginia, who they will run with at the Cavalier Open, this Friday, November 7. The meet will take place in Charlottesville, Virginia at 4 p.m..