SPARTANBURG, S.C. – Keene State College junior runner
Tyler Bolaske finished a memorable season that featured a Little East Conference individual championship, a third-place finish at the NCAA East Regional, and countless personal records by placing in the top 100 of the entire Division III field at the NCAA championships on Saturday at the Roger Milliken Center, hosted by Converse University, Limestone University, and OneSpartanburg, Inc.
The Owl finished 98th in the 291-runner field, finishing the 8K course in 25:18.3. In what is always an elite field – everyone participating being either an automatic qualifier with a team or an individual qualifier thanks to impressive regional efforts – every second makes a difference. In this case, even a difference of 10 seconds can mean 20 places.
The meet on the national scale provided Bolaske valuable experience, and he became the third KSC male runner in the last four years to qualify individually for the NCAA championship – joining Jake Pearl (2022) and
Jake Velazquez (2024). Velazquez finished 29th and achieved All-American status a season ago, his lone in Keene as a fifth year after completing his University of Massachusetts Lowell career.
Bolaske expects himself – and others – to be at this stage again next year, one year stronger and faster.
"I am proud of myself for getting to this meet and putting myself in it at the beginning," said Bolaske. "It wasn't the race I was hoping for, but this was a very talented field of runners, and this is not an easy meet to get into. This race and this season as a whole is a memory I will cherish for the rest of my life, and I hope to return to this meet next year with the rest of the guys."
Keene State will return all of their runners that comprised three of the top five in the conference and four of the top 85 in the East region, including Bolaske,
Griffin Urnezis (second in LEC, 35th in regional), Ben Tetu (67th in regional), and Nicholas Terranova (fifth in LEC, 85th in regional). That, plus an added recruiting class for head coach
Dan Roark, and the future will be bright for the Owls, who will be aiming for a conference three-peat among other goals when the leaves begin changing next year.
"Top 100 is a solid day for Tyler," said Roark. "He gained some valuable experience today and we hope to use that in the future. He has had a great season and I am proud of how he has grown and raced this year."
The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse won the national championship with the third, fourth, and fifth-place runners overall and four in the top 13, compiling 82 points to easily outdistance second-place State University of New York at Geneseo (132 points). Emmanuel Leblond of Johns Hopkins University won the individual national championship in 23:35.0, beating Mohammed Bati of Augsburg University by 4.6 seconds (Bati's second straight runner-up). New England runner Nathan Tassey of Roger Williams placed sixth (23:54.3) after a fourth-place run a year ago. Had Bolaske hit his PR of 24:25.9, it would have been good enough for a top-20 finish.
The Owls begin their indoor track and field season on December 6 when they travel to the Suffolk University Relays at the Reggie Lewis Center in Roxbury.
