RESULTS

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Keene native and University of Massachusetts-Lowell transfer Jake Velazquez became the first Keene State College men's cross country All-American in 20 years on Saturday afternoon when he raced to a 29th place finish at the 2024 NCAA Division III championship hosted by the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology at the LaVern Gibson Cross Country Course.

The eighth individual qualifier to the national championship race in program history, Velazquez finished in 24:34.5, less than three seconds from a top 20 finish.  He reached as high as 15th at one point, moving from 47th to 20th at the halfway mark, and then to 15th at the 5K mark (15:19.2).  Velazquez wound up just 1.5 seconds behind Austin Gappa of George Fox University, who finished 24th in 24:33.0, and was one of five individually qualified runners to place in the top 30.

Dave Bridgewater, who was inducted into the Keene State Athletics/Alumni Hall of Fame this past September, had been KSC's last men's cross country All-American before today, finishing 25th in 25:13.3 at the 2004 NCAA championship when the Owls qualified as a team, placing 20th.  That marked Keene State's eighth consecutive year with an All-American.  The Owls now have 24 on the men's side altogether.  Velazquez was also the first All-American on either side since Paige Mills finished 17th at the 2011 women's championship.

Today marked the 17th appearance at the NCAA championship for Keene State in men's cross country, including an individual qualifier in seven different events, all since 2007.  Jake Pearl had been the last Owl to reach the national stage in 2022, with Hayden Patterson making it in 2015 prior to that.  KSC has also made it 10 other times as a team, finishing as the national runner-up in both 1999 and 2000.  Those two teams were inducted into the Owl Hall of Fame in 2006.

Velazquez wrapped up his season in fitting fashion, one that included winning both the Little East Conference (24:25.8; 8K PR) and NCAA East Regional (24:35.3) championships over the last three weeks.

"Jake had some big goals coming into the season," said Keene State head coach Dan Roark, who took over the program entering the 2022 season.  "To end the season as an All-American is huge honor.  He kept moving up in the race as it went along and fought hard. This is a great achievement for Jake, and I am happy for this program to get its 24th men's All-American after a 20-year hiatus."

Christian Patzka of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater took home the individual national championship in 24:01.6, moving up a spot and improving by 19 seconds after his runner-up finish to Ethan Gregg (University of Wisconsin-La Crosse) a season ago.  After La Crosse lost out on the team national championship by one point to Pomona-Pitzer College in 2023 in the closest Division III finish ever, they convincingly won the title this year, outdistancing second-place Wartburg College (173 points) by 96 points.  KSC has qualified as a team in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, and 2009.

KSC swept both conference championships for the first time in nine years this season, and has combined to win 37 of the 54 awarded league championships since joining in 1997.  The Owls' attention will now turn to the indoor track and field season, which begins on December 7 when they visit both the Sharon Colyear-Danville Season Opener at Boston University and the Springfield College Invitational.

Keene State Men's Cross Country NCAA Championship Individual Qualifiers (Division III All-Time)
Jared Samuel – 2007
Tim Pipp – 2010
Eric MacKnight – 2010
Kevin Hoyt – 2011
Ryan Widzgowski – 2013
Hayden Patterson – 2015
Jake Pearl – 2022
Jake Velazquez – 2024