By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University Ichabod men's cross country team returns to the NCAA Championships for the second time in three seasons on Saturday, running at 10 a.m. (PST) in Sacramento, Calif.
Washburn's men's cross country team will compete in the 2024 NCAA Division II National Championships on Saturday in Sacramento, Calif. {Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods finished 26th in the national meet in 2022 before narrowly missing a national berth a year ago.
Washburn turned in a strong regional finish which gave it a chance at a spot in the nationals field and junior Tommy Roehl, who ran on the '22 team, said the Ichabods were cautiously optimistic that WU would get a national bid.
"We felt pretty confident,'' Tommy said. "We'd done what we needed to earlier in the season. We beat out of region teams that helped us get that at large bid at the end of the day.''
Sophomore Sebastiaan Horselenberg agreed.
"We just all ran as hard as we could and knew no matter what it was going to be we tried our best,'' Horselenberg said. "And after we finished we had no clue what was going to happen. We were all scrolling on our phones and looking at the results that were coming in.
"The numbers were changing and eventually at some point all the numbers were standing still and it was just perfect for us and we were in a really good spot.''
Having said that, sophomore transfer Ross O'Brien said the team was a little nervous until it got the final word.
"From what I had heard and from what everybody was saying I felt comfortable we could get in, but I also knew last year we felt the same and we didn't get in so there's also that nervousness,'' O'Brien said. "We were walking to the vans to go drive to go on a long run when they announced the list, so we all found out together.''
Now the goal for the Ichabods is to take another step forward as a program.
"More or less, the biggest goal for this year is just to place higher than we did two years ago when we sent a team,'' Roehl said. "It's a different course and I'm imagining it's going to be just as tough as the first time I did a national meet, but that's the fun of it.''
"I think it's amazing,'' Horselenberg said. "It's just a unique experience we get to do and I never thought we would go so far in the beginning of the season.''
In addition to Roehl, Horselenberg and O'Brien, the No. 24-ranked Ichabods will be represented at nationals by standout Donald Kibet, Leo Cossham, Charles Fossey, Aidan Junior, Shane Mullen and Sam Nebitt.
Washburn finished fourth in the Central Region meet in Joplin, Mo., with the fourth-place finish tying the best regional showing by an Ichabod team. The 2023 squad, which was bypassed for a national bid, also finished fourth.
Kibel led the Ichabods with a fifth-place finish in a 10-kilometer time of 30:28.93. His fifth-place finish tied for the third-best finish by a Washburn runner at the regional meet.
Fossey finished 19th in a time of 31:05.80, followed by Roehl, who was 34th in a time of 31:35.55. Junior placed 42nd overall in a time of 31:44.87, followed by Horselenberg, who placed 75th in a time of 32:24.89. Mullen finished 77th in a time of 32:26.44 and O'Brien was 79th in a time of 32:26.75.
The Ichabods, ranked No. 7 in the final NCAA Regional Rankings, finished behind No. 1-ranked East Central, No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri, and No. 4-ranked Pittsburg State and topped No. 5-ranked Nebraska-Kearney, No. 6-ranked Harding and No. 3-ranked Augustana.
"We're quite fortunate that our whole team is coming back next year so the whole team that's going to nationals will be back next year so next year the team should be even stronger as we build on this,'' O'Brien said.
