Ollar Stamps Nationals Ticket As Army Places Third

Friday, November 9

Buffalo, NY

12 PM

Army West Point

Northeast Regional Championships

Ollar Stamps Nationals Ticket As Army Places Third

November 09, 2018 | Men's Cross Country

BUFFALO, N.Y. - Led by NCAA Championship qualifier Roman Ollar, the Army West Point men's cross country team placed third at the NCAA Northeast Regional.

The junior Ollar placed third with a time of 32:36.6, which earned him an automatic bid to compete at the national event in Madison, WI on November 17. Ollar's third place finish is the best at the regional championship in Army history, surpassing John Mickowski's seventh place finish in 2007. This marks the second year in a row that a Cadet will head to the national meet, as John Valeri qualified for the Championships in 2017. This marks the first time that Army will be represented in back-to-back seasons since 1993-94.

Three Black Knights finished in the top-15, as Ollar was joined by senior Mikey Singer, who finished 11th at 33:12.19, and junior Ben Petrella, who placed 15th with a time of 33:24.2. Prior to today, only five Army runners had finished in the top-15 at the Northeast Regional.

For the second season in a row, Army finished just one spot short of qualifying for the NCAA Championship as a team. Syracuse and Iona, who placed first and second in the meet, will advance from the Northeast Region. This marks the third time that the team has finished in the top three at the event (2001, 2017). Army has never finished in the top two in the regional format.

Army produced the program's best-ever score at the Northeast Regional with 135 points, besting its 2001 point total of 147 points.

Coach's Corner: Head Coach Mike Smith -
"We were so close today. We knew that we needed to get second in order to advance our team to the NCAA Championships and we almost pulled it off. It was the kind of heroic effort that characterizes our guys. Roman (Ollar), Mikey (Singer), Ben (Petrella) and Robbie (Santoyo) put themselves in the front of the race from the start, held their ground when the race broke open and charged home with ferocity that gives me goosebumps to describe. They were warriors out there today.

"Roman in particular took a huge step forward. He has become an elite cross country performer and a bona fide front runner. I am proud of him and happy for him. He has been our number one runner since the Army-Navy meet and he ran with the same dominating presence again today.

"A year ago, we finished a surprising third place at this meet, but we were 170 points out of second place. Today, we were only 47 points out of second. A year ago, Roman was 33rd, Mikey was 75th, Petrella was 59th and Robbie was 38th. Today, those same men finished third, 11th, 15th and 36th.

"We had talked about the necessity of scoring 100 points to get in the top two and those guys tried to make it happen by getting into teh lead pack and trying to win the race against two of the best teams in the NCAA. Syracuse and Iona are both top-15 teams at the NCAA meet and we ran right with them all the way to the line. They did what they needed to do to hold us off. Both of those programs are outstanding, so for us to be in the conversation with them is a credit to the grit and determination of our team. Ultimately, it takes five to get it done in cross country and our fifth is a freshman who had never been in this type of race before. Marshall (Beatty) moved up well throughout the race, but was unable to get up to where we needed him. Although we came up short today, the guys were so good that we can't leave here disappointed. They came of age today."

Individual Results:
3. Roman Ollar, Jr. - 32:36.6
11. Mikey Singer, Sr. - 33:12.9
15. Ben Petrella, Jr. - 33:24.2
36. Robbie Santoyo, Jr. - 33:54.6
70. Marshall Beatty, Fr. - 34:33.4

Full Results: https://results.leonetiming.com/XC.html?mid=1495