Results

MADISON, Wis. – UMass Lowell distance runner Paul Hogan (Burlington, Mass.) posted his best ever 10K cross country run, Saturday on the snow covered Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wis., but it was not enough as he finished 60th in a field of 255 starters at the NCAA Cross Country 10K National Championships.

"Paul ran a really good race," according to UMass Lowell Head Coach Gary Gardner.  "He just didn't run a great race and today, in these conditions, he needed to run a great race to get All-American status.  We'll take 60th; he ran a solid race."

Hogan clocked in with a time of 30-minutes, 14.82-seconds.  That was some two-minutes faster than the time he posted in winning the NCAA Northeast Regional Championship eight days ago.  The graduate student running in his final cross country event of his collegiate career was 93rd after the first two kilometers.  He moved up 33 positions before the race was done.

It was the first 2K that may have been the difference.  The coaching staff had hoped to see Hogan in the top 70 at that point in the competition, but it was not the case.

"He consistently moved up from that point on," said Gardner.  "He just may have been too far back.  In this sort of race you have to get out to a real good start."

Temperatures were below freezing and much of the course was snow-covered and that made the start that much more important.

"It is so hard in this dense and talented field to move up," according to Gardner.  "With the snow on the ground it was that much harder to move around people."

Wisconsin's Morgan McDonald won the individual title with a time of 29-minutes, 08.22-seconds.  Northern Arizona put five runners in the top 29 to win the team championship.

Hogan had been hoping to become the first cross country or track and field athlete to earn All-American status since the transition to Division I.  He would not have been the first DI All-America.  UMass Lowell Hall of Famer Bob Hodge was a Division I All-American in 1976 after qualifying for the NCAA Division I Championships as a Division III runner, something that is no longer possible.  

Hogan's UMass Lowell cross country career is over, but he still has the indoor and outdoor track seasons to complete.

"He's raised the level of expectations for our program," said Gardner.  "He ran good today.  You finish 60th, it means you're damn good.  We're going to miss him."

For UMass Lowell, the cross country season is over.  Indoor track and field begins in less than a month.