Rowan University men’s cross country takes home second place at the NCAA Metro Regional Championships in Galloway, NJ on Saturday, Nov. 16. The Profs finished with 61 points, while Moravian totaled 29 points to win the regional. 

Head Coach Dustin Dimit was pleased with how his team ran but was disappointed to not get an at-large bid. 

“We were pretty happy with almost everyone’s performance there,” Dimit said. “A lot of guys ran their best of the season and three individual national qualifiers with one guy missing by one place. We were disappointed that we didn’t get an at-large bid at the NCAA. We thought we met all the criteria for that. So, that’s the only disappointment. Happy with how everybody ran and, you know, the season overall.”

The standout for the Profs on Saturday was senior Joshua Cason. Cason placed second (24:46.5) in the 8k run, finishing behind Peter Larochelle of Haverford, who ran a 24:34.8. Cason was elated that his training and hard work paid off. 

“Very excited,” Cason said. “I trained very hard all summer for it and got great training advice from the boys and Dimit during the summer and during the fall semester. I felt like the hard work finally paid off and it was really great to see.”

The Profs also had a graduate student, Miles Voenell finish in eighth place (25:06.5). Voenell was happy with his performance and can’t wait for the nationals. 

“I didn’t care the place as long as I was top seven individuals because I’ve been trying to make nationals for four years now,” Voenell said. “So it’s good to go out with the nationals qualifier.”

Dimit revealed that Haverford, who finished behind Rowan with 89 points, will not make it to the NCAA Championship for the first time in over 30 years. He also mentioned how proud he was of his team and the effort they put forward on Saturday. 

“Very proud of the team and how they’ve done things all year obviously we wanted to win the region but Moravian ran a great race,” Dimit said. “Really proud of that effort and to come out in second and beat Haverford…So to go out and beat a team that has won the region championship every year it’s been here is, is great.”

Going into the NCAA Championship, the team will need to be at the top of their game. Cason mentioned two key elements that he wants to improve upon entering the meet. 

“Working on getting out faster, a little quicker,” Cason said. “I think I can improve on that. I guess another thing I can work on is preparing, before the race. So, like, eating better and hydrating better.”

The Profs will be sending Joshua Cason, Miles Voenell, and senior Matthew Conway to the NCAA Championships on Saturday, Nov. 23, in Terre Haute, IN. 

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