By Senior Correspondent Marty Ogden and Ron Knapp

It is difficult to understand how competitive it is at the NCAA national level in all three divisions. While finishing 200th in most races makes you an average runner just getting to this level proves you are an accomplished athlete worthy of the honor. There is a difficult regional qualifying process where you can’t just plunk down a wad of cash and gain entry into the event. MySportsResults congratulates all of the alumni of CT high schools who earned their way to compete in the most competitive races in the nation. 

The NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships at Milliken Research Park in Spartanburg, SC was the venue for the most USTFCCCA All-American honors for state alumni as three former high schoolers ran to one of the top forty places.

The Women’s Championship 6k race featured two All American performances. In her first appearance on the national stage, freshman Claire Palmer of Middlebury garnered All-American honors. The Ellington native and former Kingswood-Oxford nabbed 23rd place with a clocking of 21:38.3. Palmer’s teammate Audrey MacLean claimed the overall title in 20:16.8 to lead the team to an 8th place finish.

As one of three MIT runners to earn All-America honors, senior Kate Sanderson concluded her remarkable cross country career with her third All-America honor. After leading briefly the former Hall athlete continued strongly for her finishing time of 21:39.1 to take 25th place helping her team to a fifth place overall.

The Men’s Championship 6k race was highlighted by an All-American performance from Colin Goldschmidt of RPI. The 26th place finish in 24:34.4 by the former Hall graduate was one of three RPI’s All-American performances that helped the men's cross country team to their best-ever team finish in a national championship with a fifth place.

In a quick AI web search it appears that Hall was the only high school in the country that had an All-American in the men’s and women’s Division III national championship races.

CT Alumni at the NCAA Division III Championships

Results on Athletic.net

Women’s Race - 6k

23 - Claire Palmer Middlebury [FR] 21:38.3 (Kingswood-Oxford) DIII All American

25 - Kate Sanderson MIT [SR] 21:39.1 (Hall) DIII All American

148 - Deirdre Flanagan Tufts [SO] 23:09.1 (Ridgefield)

Men’s Race - 8k

17th place - Wesleyan

26 - Colin Goldschmidt RPI [JR] 24:32.4 (Hall) DIII All American

78 - Liam Calhoun Wesleyan [SR] 25:07.4 (RHAM)

101 - Justin Cascio RPI [SR] 25:19.1 (Lewis Mills)

105 - Nathaniel Aronson Bates [SO] 25:22.2 (Hall)

127 - Cameron Miles Middlebury [SO] 25:32.1 (Weston)

234 - Liam McGoldrick Colby [SR] 26:18.1

270 - Zach Allen Wesleyan [JR] 26:59.5 (Staples)

CT Alumni at the NCAA Division II Championships

Results by Leone Timing

Women’s Race - 6k

Southern CT State University women finished 29th overall as a team.

64 - Courtney Henchcliffe So. Conn. St. [JR]  21:25.9 (Newtown)

140 - Peyton Dauphinais So. Conn. St. [JR] 22:14.2 (Seymour)

228 - Erin Sola So. Conn. St. [SO] 23:16.5 (Platt)

260 - Maya Fisher So. Conn. St. [FR] 25:16.2 (East Catholic)

262 - Anna Wayne So. Conn. St. [FR] 26:50.5 (Fairfield Warde)

Men’s Race - 10k

Southern CT State University men finished 29th overall as a team.

41 - Jonathan Volpe So. Conn. St. [SR] 30:43.1 (Naugatuck)

104 - Colton Sallum So. Conn. St. [FR] 31:44.8 (Woodstock Academy)

182 - Nathanael Huebner So. Conn. St. [SR] 32:30.3 (Foran)

226 - Sean Barkasy So. Conn. St. [SR] 33:10.4 (Manchester)

236 - Francis Porrini So. Conn. St. [SO] 33:27.7 (Bristol Central)

246 - John Glidden So. Conn. St. [SO] - 33:58.7 (Rockville)

Other CT Alumni:

224 - Sam Fortin Franklin Pierce [SO] 33:09.7 (RHAM)

CT Alumni at the NCAA Division I Championships

Results on Athletic.net

Women’s Race - 6k

119 - Claire Daniels Penn State 20:02.7 (New Milford)

Men’s Race - 10k

106 - Nicholas Bendtsen Virginia 29:39.0 (Wolcott)

238 - Steven Hergenrother Princeton 31:18.0 (Ridgefield)

Love the free content from MySportsResults? You can help keep it that way! Shop for your gear at our sponsors, Marathon Sports and New Balance, whose support makes articles like this possible.