Nov. 23--Despite having three runners fall on a sodden, muddy course in the first kilometer, leaving the team in a huge hole with only two kilometers left in the eight-kilometer race, North Central rallied for the most improbable of its 16 NCAA Division III cross-country titles Saturday in Mason, Ohio.
The Cardinals had 130 points to 143 for St. Olaf, whose top five runners all were ahead of North Central's top three after six kilometers.
"At that point (after the falls) we could have disintegrated," said Al Carius, 72, North Central's head coach the last 49 seasons, "but they just kept fighting back, and that's a real tribute to this team."
Travis Morrison of Schaumburg High School and Aron Sebhat of Niles North both stayed with the lead pack, then picked off St. Olaf runners at the end while finishing seventh and 12th overall.
Meanwhile, two of the runners who had tumbled into the mud and the back third of the pack, Troy Kelleher of Hilliard, Ohio and Zach Plank of Dunlap, worked their way forward until each outkicked a St. Olaf runner in the final 200 meters while becoming the third and fourth North Central runners.
"Everything that could have went wrong did today," Kelleher said. "But coach Carius always teaches us about competitive response and how you respond to adversity."
It was North Central's third NCAA title in the last four years.
