TERRE HAUTE, IN – The Johns Hopkins men's cross country team closed out its 2024 season at the NCAA Division III National Championships Saturday afternoon, finishing 14
th in the field of 32 teams with 382 points. The Blue Jays' final point total is the program's lowest since 2019 and marks the third straight year Hopkins has finished in the top 14.
Emmanuel Leblond made history in the final race of his junior season, crossing the line in sixth with a time of 24:13.2 to give him the fastest time in an NCAA Championship in program history — nearly 20 seconds faster than the previous best time set by Jarod Pangallozzi.
Leblond's sixth-place finish is the third-best in program history, with the junior also becoming just the second runner in program history to be named an All-American three times after finishing in 26
th as a freshman and 25
th a season ago.
Next to cross the line was
Lucas Rackers, who finished in 57
th with a time of 24:56.3. The graduate student worked his way up the field throughout the entirety of Saturday's 8K, climbing 87 spots from the midway point of the race to the finish line — including 28 spots in the final 3K to cross the line in the top 60.
Rowan Cassidy was the third Blue Jay to finish, crossing the line in 94
th with a time of 25:09.8. After finishing 65
th a season ago, the junior climbed from 116
th at the 4K mark to 89
th with 1.5K to go in Saturday's Championship before settling into 94
th at the finish.
Coming in behind the junior was
Brady Ott, with the freshman finishing in 173
rd in his NCAA Championship debut. Ott found himself in the middle of the pack for much of the race sitting in the 168-173 range for the entire second half of the 8K before crossing the line with a time of 25:36.9.
Rounding out Hopkins' points scorers was
Kenny Wanlass, who finished just four seconds behind Brady in 181
st with a time of 25:40.7. The sophomore bided his time during the middle of the race before using a strong kick to climb 27 spots in the final 1.5K to finish just outside the top 180 in his first NCAA Championship race.
Wisconsin-La Crosse won the championship with a meet-low 77 points, followed by Wartburg (173) Pomona-Pitzer (182), Wisconsin-Whitewater (219) and NYU (220).
