FINAL RESULTS
PHOTO GALLERY

WINNECONNE, Wisc. – Life isn't always fair, and the same could be said for the world of athletics Saturday afternoon as the Otterbein men's cross country team faced adversity during the NCAA Division III Championships at Lake Breeze Golf Club.

The Cardinals, entering ranked No. 17 nationally and making the program's first NCAA appearance since 1995, were forced to regroup early along with the rest of the field as a runner fell down in the opening straightaway. As a result, all competitors were halted and brought back to the line for a restart.

Otterbein then encountered early trouble after the gun went off a second time, as the race saw a huge pileup around the 800-meter mark. Unfortunately, five of the seven Cardinal runners went down in the melee and had to gather themselves quickly.

Junior Chase Hampton was one of the victims in that jumble, but picked himself up and began working back in the race. He moved more than 30 spots afterward and ultimately closed strong to take 46th in the field of 280 runners, missing All-American honors (top 35) by just five seconds.

"Sometimes things happen in a race that are out of your control," said Hampton, concluding his first season at Otterbein after transferring from Lipscomb. "You just have to respond well and not let it get you down. We fought hard and did our best to climb back from that moment."

The rest of the Cardinal lineup wasn't able to make up as much ground as Hampton, but admirably kept churning away en route to completing the 8K course. Overall, the team settled for 28th of 32 schools after taking seventh back in October during the Pre-National Meet, also at Lake Breeze.

Junior Max Hoffman was next to cross for Otterbein at 25:50, good enough for 144th overall, while senior Ian Kellogg wasn't far behind at 25:55. He was the lone Cardinal with NCAA experience after qualifying individually as a freshman, bringing his career full circle.

Jacob Thompson posted 26:34, Jamey Ehret clocked a 26:50 while Alex Clevinger and Trevor Dilley rounded out the lineup with commendable efforts despite the difficulty and misfortune.

"This team is incredibly tough and we accomplished a great deal this season," Hampton added. "I'm so proud of the steps taken. We will be back."

Otterbein delivered a storybook fall season for the program by capturing its first All-Ohio title since 2005, its first Ohio Athletic Conference crown since 2004, taking second place at the Great Lakes Regional behind five all-region performances, and then making it back to the Big Dance after more than two decades.

The Cardinals will surely take some time off to regroup before hitting the indoor track schedule come 2019.