Final Team Results
Final Individual Results

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. -  Led by individual champion Dan Cheung, the Allegheny men's cross country team won its second consecutive North Coast Athletic Conference Championship.

Cheung, named the 2016 NCAC Runner of the Year, led wire to wire, as he charged out early and never looked back to finish with a winning time of 25:17, 20 seconds in front of second-place Zach Batt of DePauw.  Cheung was one of six Gators to finish in the top-20 of the 101-runner field, as Allegheny totaled 44 team points, 10 ahead of DePauw and 14 in front of pre-championship favorite Wabash, which finished third.

Fellow senior Randy Violette was Allegheny's second finisher, as he placed seventh with a time of 26:04 to earn First Team All-NCAC honors after being an Honorable Mention honoree a season ago. 

While Cheung and Violette were the only two Gators to place in the top seven, the team title was won by a stellar effort from the team's third through sixth runners, which were separated by just 10 places.  Junior Carter Smith earned All-NCAC accolades for the first time in his cross country career, as he placed ninth in a time of 26:17.  Classmate John Hughes was a Second Team All-NCAC finisher for the second straight season, placing 13th in 26:33, one place and two seconds ahead of sophomore Matt Svetz.  In his final NCAC Cross Country Championship race, senior Emmett Barr closed out the top-20 with a time of 27:08 to earn Honorable Mention All-NCAC honors.

The field was tightly packed in the opening stages of the race, and Cheung and Violette each settled into the front of the lead pack, which was comprised almost entirely of runners from Allegheny, DePauw, and Wabash from the start.  The top 20 runners were separated by just four seconds after the first two kilometers, with Cheung and Violette, and Smith each turning in a split of 6:16.  

Cheung began to pull away midway through the race, as he held a four-second lead at the 5K mark, before he gradually increased his lead over the final three kilometers, as he closed with a blazing 5:57 to finish with a 19-second margin of victory.  His 5:05 mile pace topped the field by five seconds.  

Like Cheung, each of the Gators' top six closed with strong kicks, with Violette running the final three kilometers in 6:08, Smith 6:10, Hughes 6:17, Svetz 6:27, and Barr 6:31.

In addition to Cheung's Runner of the Year honor, and the six Gators named All-NCAC, first-year Allegheny head coach Ben Mourer was named the NCAC Coach of the Year.

This marks the 13th men's NCAC cross country championship in Allegheny history, and 10th in the past 13 seasons.  Cheung earned the Gators' 11th NCAC Runner of the Year honor, while Mourer's Coach of the Year accolade is the Gators' 13th.  

Allegheny will next compete at the College of Wooster's Twilight Run on Friday, Nov. 4, before preparing for the NCAA Great Lakes Regional Championships scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 12 in Holland, Michigan.