Men’s Cross Country Enters Nationals Rankings

(NEW ORLEANS, La.) – The Carnegie Mellon University men's cross country team found a spot in the U.S. Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association NCAA Division III National Coaches' Poll on Wednesday, September 26. The team enters the rankings at #34 after receiving votes in last week's poll.

The past two weeks have seen the team win a title and finish second as they competed against Division II schools at both the Slippery Rock University Mack Cooper Invite on September 14 and the Lock Haven University River Run Invite on September 22. Last week's win at Lock Haven saw a dominant performance by the Tartans as five runners finished in the top 10.

The team is currently being led by junior Josh Newby (Palo Alto, Calif./Palo Alto) and senior Evan Gates (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) who finished second and third at Lock Haven. Newby earned University Athletic Association Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week honors for his performance, which was his second top-five finish of the season. Gates finished third in his first race of the season and is poised to return to the NCAA Championships where he finished the season as an All-American last year. Sophomore George Degan (Madison, Wis./West) has also been a leader for the Tartans, finishing third on the team the last two weeks with two top-10 finishes.