ELIZABETHTOWN COLLEGE MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY
Saturday, November 22, 2003

Steve Sanko Places 90th at NCAA Division III National Championship Meet

HANOVER, Ind. --- At the NCAA Division III Championship cross country meet, hosted by Hanover College Saturday, junior Steve Sanko (Hazleton, PA/Bishop Hafey) placed 90th.

Sanko finished 90th in a field of 215 runners. According to Etown head men's coach Chris Straub, Sanko found his position early in the race but was unable to advance from there, hovering around 90th for the duration of the race. Sanko finished with a time of 26:37.6 on the 8000m course.

In all, it was a fantastic day for the Mideast Region as a whole. In the women's championship, all three of the region's team qualifiers finished in the top 16 among the 24 competing teams, meaning that the Mideast Region will get four team qualifiers in 2004. As a result of strong individual performances from the region, the Mideast will receive six individual berths in 2004 as opposed to the five the region received this year.

On the men's side, while the Mideast Region will continue to have only two team berths next year, the number of individual berths has been increased from six to eight as a result of some dominant men's individual performances Saturday from the Mideast Region.

The men's national team champion was Calvin College, and the individual champion was Josh Moen, also of Wartburg. Macharia Yout of Middle Atlantic Conference Widener was the men's national runner-up.