ELSAH, Ill. - Allegheny teammates Matt Svetz and John Hughes represented the Gators well at the 2017 NCAA Division III National Cross Country Championship, hosted by Principia College.

After each earning at-large selections to the 280-runner championship field, both runners placed in the top third, with Svetz finishing 59th and Hughes 80th.

"Matt and John both got out where they wanted and ran solid races," said Allegheny head coach Ben Mourer.  "Unfortunately, they just slightly faded late in an extremely strong field."  

Svetz closed out a breakout campaign with a time of 25:11.6 in the 8-kilometer race at Principia's North Farm Course.  The junior Meadville product concluded a season in which he turned in four top-10 finishes, highlighted by a win at the Oberlin Inter-Regional Rumble on Oct. 14, and a fourth-place finish at the North Coast Athletic Conference Championship two weeks later to garner First Team All-NCAC honors.  He qualified for the NCAA Championship by way of his 14th-place finish at the Great Lakes Regional Championship on Nov. 4.  This marked Svetz's second career NCAA Championship race, and was a marked improvement from last season, when he battled through nagging injuries throughout the year before finishing 235th at the NCAA race.

Hughes turned in a time of 25:23.1 at the NCAA Championship to close out his banner season on another strong note.  The senior had four top-five finishes in the Gators' first five races of the season, including back-to-back wins at the Chatham Challenge (Sept. 3) and the Allegheny Classic (Sept. 17).  After placing fifth at the Inter-Regional Rumble, Hughes earned his third career All-NCAC honor by placing third at the conference championship, while he punched his ticket for the NCAA Championships after finishing 12th at the Great Lakes Regional Championship to earn All-Region honors in consecutive seasons. This marked the third straight season in which Hughes ran at the NCAA Championship, and was his top career performance, after placing 182nd last season, and 160th in 2015.  

"I'm very proud of both Matt and John," Mourer said. "They each had incredibly strong seasons, and I couldn't be happier with how they finished.  They both have really high hopes heading into the track season."

With three runners in the top-10, and five in the top-30, North Central totaled just 57 points to breeze to the NCAA title, finishing 140 points ahead of runner-up Wisconsin-LaCrosse.  Wisconsin-Eau Claire's Darin Lau won the individual title with a time of 24:03.6, nine seconds ahead of runner-up Jared Borowsky of North Central.

Mourer's team will now shift its focus to the indoor track and field season, which gets underway on Dec. 2 at the Case Western Reserve Holiday Classic.

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