Paced by individual champion Jackson Brainerd, the Colorado College men’s cross country team won the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference title for the second time in three years on Saturday at the Georgia International Horse Park.
Brainerd completed the course that was just short of a true 8K at the Georgia International Horse Park in a time of 24:29.60, finishing 8.0 seconds ahead of Trinity’s Bryan Wright. With his victory, Brainerd also earned SCAC Runner of the Year honors.
The Tigers won the title with 45 points, 13 fewer than second-place DePauw. Trinity finished third with 79 points, followed by Centre (87) and Rhodes (120).
Dan Kraft was fourth in a time of 24:58.10, while Andrew Wagner (25:10.80) and David Wilder (25:15.60) finished 9th and 10th, respectively, to give the Tigers four top-10 finishes.
All four earned all-SCAC honors by finishing in the top 14.
Max Gerken completed CC’s scoring with a 21st-place finish in a time of 26:00.90.
Colorado College won its first-ever SCAC championship at the 2007 hosted by Southwestern University. CC was paced by current assistant coach Alex Nichols, who earned Runner-of-the-Year honors with a time of 25:36.05 - the 13th fastest time in SCAC championships history.
The Tigers’ victory snapped DePauw's seven-year stranglehold on the men's title.
Colorado College finished second to Centre College at the 2008 SCAC championships in Memphis, Tenn.
The Tigers return to action on Nov. 14 when they travel to Claremont, Calif., for the NCAA West Region meet.