Max Marinelli '08 helped Colorado to NCAA West Region Championship.
From his high school coach Addison Hunt
Led by seniors Jackson Brainerd and Robby Caseria, who blazed to individual finishes of first and fifth, respectively, Colorado College reached another pinnacle on Saturday.
The Tigers, ranked No. 5 in the West, claimed a share of the men's team title for the first time ever at the NCAA West Region championship meet in Claremont, Calif., after tying with No. 1-ranked Occidental College.
Both teams advance to next week's Nationals at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, CC as the higher seed by virtue of a tiebreaker.
"It was just an incredible performance by all our guys," said head coach Ted Castaneda. "They had a great day. We're very excited."
It is the third consecutive regional crown for Brainerd, who entered the race as a three-time individual champion in the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference. By finishing among the top 35 in Saturday's 8K competition, he and Caseria earned All-Region accolades.
Brainerd completed the damp course in 24 minutes and 53.4 seconds, more than six seconds ahead of his closest pursuer, junior Rafen Dannenhauer (2:59.7) from third-place Claremont-Mudd Scripps. Occidental's Eric Kleinsasser was third (25:02.1).
“I was real nervous coming in because these guys weren't going to make it easy,” said Brainerd, who used a kick a few hundred yards after the fourth mile to pass Dannenhauer, Kleinsasser and a few others toward the front of the pack. “I was mostly waiting. I thought someone was going to make a move but they didn't. So I went for it.”
His race against Kleinsasser was highly anticipated, after he edged the Oxy runner two years ago by less than a second at the West Regional on the same course. Saturday, it was less suspenseful as Brainerd built a big lead by the time he hit the final stretch.
“Jackson had it today,” said Kleinsasser, who was coming off of consecutive wins at the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference multi-dual and championship events. “As we were going up the hill he bailed. My strategy with respect to him was to put a move on early.”
Caseria's clocking of 25:12.8 represents yet another personal record for him.
Colorado College and Occidental both scored 76 points, but CC's combined time of 2:08:45.2 was almost 30 seconds faster in determining an average for the tiebreaker.
Joining Brainerd and Caseria in earning All-Region recognition, with top-35 finishes, were freshman Nick Hall, senior Kaleb Fergin and junior Max Marinelli. Hall was 15th with a time of 25:56.2, Fergin 20th at 26:11.5 and Marinello 35th at 26:31.2.
Freshman Graham Frank took 41st in a field of more than 120 runners, posting a 26:37.4, while senior Michael Dougan was 55th with a 26.59.