Dartmouth junior Tom McArdle earned All-America honors yesterday at the NCAA championship cross country race in Furman, S.C., as the Big Green men finished 24th in a field of 31 teams.
McArdle finished 16th in a field of 244 runners with a time of 29:47 on the 10-kilometer course.
Dartmouth also received strong races from freshman Kevin Arnold, sophomore Mark Nichol, sophomore Jarrod Shoemaker and senior captain Jason Taylor.
Arnold ran the race in 31:22, placing 137th, Nichol in 31:31 (156th), Shoemaker in 31:43 (172nd) and Taylor in 31:55 (187th).
"Tom ran almost a perfect race," said Dartmouth head coach Barry Harwick '77.
The race was won by Colorado University, with Stanford University finishing second. Dartmouth's 24th-place finish was one spot up from their performance last year.
"Our team goal was to improve upon last year's 25th-place finish, and we did that, but we could have moved even higher with some better performances," said Harwick.
Dartmouth finished 29th out of 31 squads on the women's side of the race.
The women were led by senior Lara Neil, with a time of 22:14 in the six-kilometer race. Neil finished 108th.
The Dartmouth women were also helped with strong races from their other runners.
Junior Jessie Allen-Young placed 140th with a time of 22:29.
Senior Dagny Dingman placed 160th with a time of 22:39, sophomore Nicole Kelleher placed 182nd with a time of 22:53 and freshman Kristen Ettensohn placed 199th with a time of 23:04.
Brigham Young University won the women's championship, with North Carolina State finishing second.
The Dartmouth cross country teams enjoyed constant success this season. The men won the Heptagonals competition in October and the women finished fourth in that race.
The men qualified for the NCAA championship by finishing second in their NCAA qualifier and earning an automatic bid. The women qualified for the championship by competing consistently strong in their district all season, earning an at-large bid to the race.
