It was an especially grateful Thanksgiving for Wesleyan cross-country runner Bryan Marsh ’13, who earned All-American honors when he represented Wesleyan at the Division III Cross Country Championship in Winneconne, Wisconsin on Saturday, Nov. 19. Each year, 32 teams, a total of 277 individual runners, compete in this national spotlight event. Running in this major national meet, however, was nothing new for Marsh, who, as a sophomore, earned an individual entry and finished 106th in the NCAA meet. This year, North Central College came away with the team title, and Ben Sathre of St. Thomas University took home the individual title by running the 8k course in 23:44.27.
Marsh covered the 8k course in 24:47, impressively averaging a five-minute mile. Marsh earned his a\All-American honors by nipping the 36th-place finisher by .29 seconds, allowing him to take hold of the final All-American spot. Marsh’s record time not only ranked him fifth among all New England runners, but also marked him as the first Cardinal runner to receive an All-American title in six years. The last Wesleyan male to return home as a cross country All-American was Owen Kiely ’06, who finished 12th during the 2005 championship.