Final Results
Louisville, NY - An All-American finish was the conquered goal for senior
Nick Filippazzo of Adelphi University at today's NCAA Division II Cross Country Championship after finishing just outside the top-40 last year. The Wantagh native claimed a 38th place finish behind a 31:28.7 time.
The 10k E.P. Tom Sawyer Park course was cut down to 9,560 meters due to inclement weather in the Louisville area throughout the past week. The remaining parts of the course were left with large amounts of water, making for an interesting setting for the NCAA Championship.
Filippazzo turned in a 5:59.9 time in the first 1,800 meters to sit in the back of the pack at 192nd place. However, at the halfway point of the race, the senior moved up 112 spots with a time of 16:24.9. The progession continued at the four-mile mark as Filippazzo was in 60th at 21:16.1 on the clock that included a 4:51.2 mile split. With less than 1,000 meters left, the senior was in 41st and just outside the top-40 spot needed for All-America.
Determined to climb inside the top-40 and earn the All-America Status, Filippazzo took control of the difficult course to claim 38th place and improve three spots from last year's race. Futhermore, he joins Andrew Coelho ('13) as the only Adelphi cross country All-Americans in program history. Coelho was a two-time All-American in 2011 and 2012.
"I'm proud of Nick; he fought hard through tough conditions," said Head Coach
Katie Rees. "The original plan was to get out further up in the so wouldn't have to do so much work to catch up, however, he got a little boxed at the start so that changed things. But he wound up racing his typical strategy, which is to start conservative and pick it up as he went."
His strength from all the miles he put in this summer and during the summer really allowed him to keep moving forwards as many people were going backwards in the second half," continued Rees. "He had a solid senior year and I'm proud of him for earning All-America."
Adams State senior Tabor Stevens repeated as the individuals champion by crossing the line at 30:02.0, ahead of the 30:19.3 from California (PA) senior Aaron Dinzeo. Fellow Northeast-10 Conference runner Mike Biwott, American International junior, rounded out the top-three by crossing the line at 30:26.5.
Stevens helped lead the Adams State to the team National Championship as well. The group scored meet-low 69 points to outlast Grand Valley State (127 points) and Augustana (136 points) in second and third place respectively.
