ANNAPOLIS, Md. – The Navy men's cross country team turned in a dominant performance on Friday at the 2021 Navy XC Twilight race. Hosting a variety of teams from the region at the USNA Cross Country Course, the Mids paced the field with runners filling each of the top-10 individual finishing positions and posting a perfect team score of 15 points.
Miguel Mathias (Sr., Nekoosa, Wisc.) took the individual honors with a time of 23:59.93 that was the fastest of 69 runners on the 4.9-mile course.
In the team standings, Navy's control of the top positions allowed the host Midshipmen to win by 58 points over UMBC, who netted 73 team points. Loyola and Hagerstown CC were the next two teams in the standings with point totals of 84 and 103, respectively. VMI rounded out the top-five with 137 points. The final two teams in the standings were Catholic University (143) and Bowie State (224).
"A lot of churning was done getting ready for the fall, and a lot of cream is rising to the top," remarked head coach
Aaron Lanzel. "Miguel was starting to define himself last year as was Grant [Van Valkenburg]. We have some redefined runners in Garrison [Clark], Brett [Brady] and Sam [Keeny]. Seeing David [Nelsen] back and better than ever really fills in 10 runners, who are all aiming to be in the top-five. Even our 5k was exciting, as we got to see Tyler [Callaway] and Adam [Kennedy] run like new men."
Midshipmen runners were a force at the front of the pack throughout the 4.9-mile race as
Grant Van Valkenburg (Sr., Duvall, Wash.) paced the field with a one-mile time of 4:58.575 before
Garrison Clark (Jr., Severna Park, Md.) crossed the 3.9-mile marker fractions of a second ahead of Mathias with a then-first place time of 19:00.011. Down the stretch over the final mile, Mathias edged ahead of his teammate to clock in just shy of 24 minutes at 23:59.927. Clark was less than three seconds back at 24:02.674. Van Valkenburg kept up his pace and crossed the finish line with a time of 24:07.924.
David Nelsen (Sr., Chandler, Ariz.) and
Brett Brady (Jr., Phoenix, Ariz.) continued Navy's dominance of the top finishers as the duo came in fourth and fifth respectively with times of 24:10.736 and 24:16.971. Nelsen and Brady's results clinched the perfect team score for the host Midshipmen.
Alex Rizzo (Jr., Bronxville, N.Y.) finished a little over 10 seconds off of Brady's pace in sixth place at 24:27.471.
Sam Keeny (So., Annapolis, Md.) turned in the best performance of his young career as he traversed the difficult terrain of the USNA Cross Country Course in 24:44.858.
Team captain
Ashwin Briggs (Sr., Pinkerington, Ohio),
John Bowers (Sr., Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.) and
Mitchell Rome (Jr., Dallas, Pa.) completed Navy's sweep of the top-10 with times of 24:51.951, 24:59.886 and 25:01.199, respectively.
Loyola's Dillon Harding was the first non-Navy runner to cross the finish line as he placed 11th at 25:07.808.
In the earlier men's 5k competition, Navy sophomores
Tyler Callaway (Rhododenron, Ore.) and
Adam Kennedy (Batavia, Ill.) and freshman
Alexander Kirkland (Bel Air, Md.) led a sweep of the top-13 positions by Midshipmen amongst 33 entrants. Callaway and Kennedy clocked in at 16:14.07 and 16:16.74, respectively, while Kirkland finished with a 16:19.64.
Navy will continue early season action next Friday at the University of Virginia's Panorama Invitational.
