The men's Midwest Regional meet looms as a mini-national meet with six of the top 10 ranked Division III teams going head-to-head in this competition. Only five teams can actually advance to the NCAA national championship meet which is set for next week in Spokane, Washington.
North Central College is the three-time defending regional champion and has won 19 championships in the past 22 years but the Cardinals are ranked fifth nationally behind UW-Oshkosh which is third and UW-La Crosse which is fourth. Calvin College, MI and Keene State, NH are the top two teams. North Central has also won three straight NCAA Division III titles and 12 national championships since 1975.
Oshkosh won the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference crown two weeks ago but just six points separated the Titans from UW-La Crosse. UW-Platteville and UW-Whitewater tied for third with UW-Stevens Point a few points behind in fifth. All five schools had runners finish among the top six. Only La Crosse had two runners in the top six but Oshkosh had three in the top nine to earn its title.
Stevens Point's Jesse Drake was the WIAC individual champion for the second straight year, edging Oshkosh's Phil Keskinen by a little more than 10 seconds. Whitewater's Patrick Frascone and La Crosse's Dan Sutton were less than five seconds apart for third and fourth. Five seconds separated fifth through seventh places with the next seven spots separated by less than nine seconds. Drake was sixth in last year's regional with Keskinen 16th. The two were eighth and 24th, respectively, in the national meet.
North Central placed five runners among the top 25 in the regional last year but only two return for this year's competition. Tim McCoskey was the regional runner-up in 1999 and won the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin championship two weeks ago by more than 30 seconds. Jeremy Borling was 12th in last year's regional and 30th in the national championships. McCoskey placed third in last year's national race.
In winning its 27th consecutive CCIW crown, North Central captured seven of the top eight spots. Only Elmhurst's Jim Akita broke up a sweep with a fourth-place finish, placing behind McKoskey, Borling and Greg Targosz.
Among last year's All-Americans who are entered in this year's regional race besides McCoskey, Drake, Keskinen and Borling are Whitewater's Jeremy Burks (19th), Oshkosh's Abe Mendoza (21st) and La Crosse's Tyler Foos (22nd).
Beloit, Lawrence and Ripon finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively in the Midwest Conference behind Grinnell and Knox. Beloit's Zac Freudenburg was the individual runner-up with Lawrence's Peter Levi fourth and Carroll's Adam Broten fifth.
Greenville College won the St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship for the fourth straight year and grabbed nine of the top 10 individual spots. Dustin Franckey, Beau Meredith, Antwan Garnett and Jimmy Bean were one-two-three-four.
Washington University was this year's University Athletic Association champion with the University of Chicago placing third. Washington's Pat MacDonald was the individual runner-up, just eight seconds off the pace, with Chicago's Oliver Richards third. Wash U also had the fifth and sixth place runners in the persons of Nathan Herschberger and Matt Hoelle.
The strength of the Midwest Region is well-documented. Since 1978, it has produced the national champion and/or runner-up every year. Last year's fifth-place qualifier, UW-Eau Claire, placed 13th in the national meet. The region's fifth-place qualifier has finished as high as ninth nationally which Stevens Point did in 1992. In 1987, Midwest Region teams garnered the top four spots at nationals. While there are eight regions, last year the Midwest Region produced 10 of the 35 All-Americans. The individual national champion has been a Midwest Region runner nine times since 1986 and in four of the other five years, the Midwest had the national runner-up. Eau Claire coach Scott Steuernagel was the national runner-up in 1990.