Making A Statement at Pre-Nats

Plus: Golf Champions; UWL Beats The Streak; Key Games From Weekend; Top Plays

Author

Steve Ulrich
October 09, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 13 minutes

OCTOBER 9, 2023 | written by STEVE ULRICH

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TOP STORY
1. Making A Statement At Pre-Nats

Genna Girard, Williams (photo by David Beyerle)

The Division III cross country world convened in Newville, Pa. last weekend for the Pre-Nationals Invitational. And when the dust settled, it was the MIT men and the Claremont-M-S women that returned home with the team hardware.

The Engineers came into the meet ranked No. 8 but dominated the race with four finishers in the top-15 and 71 points. Williams and RPI finished second and third, respectively. Wilmington’s Simon Heys was the top individual, covering the distance in 24:46.1 to edge the Ephs’ John Lucey by 1.4 seconds.

» Team Scores. #8 MIT 71, #5 Williams 86, #9 RPI 103, #2 Pomona-Pitzer 138, #14 George Fox 158, #11 Claremont-M-S 188, #13 Mount Union 233.

» Individual Top 5. Simon Heys (Wilmington) 24:46.1; John Lucey (Williams) 24:47.5; Cory Kennedy (RPI) 24:52.4; Nikhil DeNatale (Williams) 24:57.0; Lowell Hensgen (MIT) 24:58.0.

The Athenas showed no ill effects from their cross-country trip to south-central PA, rolling to a 48-point victory with all five finishers in the top-20. MIT was second, while Williams, Amherst and George Fox rounded out the top five.

The Ephs’ Genna Girard crossed the finish line first in 21:29.4 - nearly 15 seconds faster than CMS’ Natalie Bitetti.

» Team Scores. #8 Claremont-M-S 51, #4 MIT 99, #11 Williams 118, #13 Amherst 181, #14 George Fox 182, #29 Hope 204, WPI 250.

» Individual Top 5. Genna Girard (Williams) 21:29.4; Natalie Bitetti (Claremont-M-S) 21:44.3; Grace Hadley (WPI) 21:46.2; Gillian Roeder (MIT) 21:57.2; Elle Marsyla (CMS) 21:57.6.

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GOLF
2. Tee Champions

Five conferences crowned their men’s and/or women’s golf champions last weekend with teams earning an automatic berth to next spring’s NCAA DIII championship.

  • CCIW (W): Illinois Wesleyan 284-302-300—886. Emma Thorman (IWU) 218.

  • NAC (M): Husson 299-310—609. Chade Charron (Husson), Noah Tyler (SUNY Delhi) 149

  • NACC (W): Aurora 335-313-338-319—1305. Yinan Lu (Marian) 310

  • UMAC (M): UW-Superior 301-315-315—931. Jake Sweeney (North Central) 227

  • UMAC (W): Northwestern 341-345-328—1014. Morgan Eckman (Northwestern) 245

  • WIAC (W): Whitewater 334-310-315—959. Abbey Filipiak (Stout) 225

» Underway. A-R-C (W), MIAC (M/W), SLIAC (W)

» Beginning Today. AMCC (M), GNAC (M/W)

FOOTBALL
3. Beat The Streak

Michael Stack, UW-La Crosse

Wisconsin-La Crosse defeated UW-Whitewater for the first time since 2004 and was rewarded by the pollsters in the latest D3football.com ranking.

The Eagles moved up eight spots to No. 6, while the Warhawks slipped four positions to No. 7. Randolph-Macon was bumped from the top-10 with UWL’s ascent.

No new teams entered the poll this week.

  1. North Central IL (25), 5-0

  2. Mount Union, 5-0

  3. Wartburg, 6-0

  4. UW-River Falls, 5-0

  5. Trinity TX, 5-1

  6. UW-La Crosse, 4-1

  7. UW-Whitewater, 4-1

  8. Saint John’s, 4-1

  9. Linfield, 4-0

  10. Johns Hopkins, 5-0

Scores of Interest

#14 UW-La Crosse d. #3 Whitewater, 37-34

#12 John Carroll d. Marietta, 31-28

#16 Ithaca d. RPI, 20-17

Colby d. Wesleyan, 20-13 (OT)

Hope d. Albion, 14-6

» Notable. Michael Stack booted a 51-yard field goal on the final play to lift UW-La Crosse past UW-Whitewater, 37-34. The announced crowd of 20,113 is the largest to see a DIII football game on campus. Carleton remained undefeated at 5-0 as Marcus Merkelbach kicked a 30-yard field goal with :23 remaining for a 33-31 win over crosstown rival St. Olaf. QB Kobe Berghammer completed 42 of 52 passes for 466 yards and five TDs and amassed 571 yards of total offense as Oshkosh edged Stout, 48-46. Wabash QB Liam Thompson set a NCAC career record for total offense in the Little Giants’ 45-35 win vs. Wooster. Illinois College WR Collin Brunstein caught seven passes for 301 yards and three scores in a 41-20 win at Chicago. Lake Forest QB Joshua Gasca and WR Trevor Land teamed for a 99-yard pass reception against Lawrence.

» Next Week. #4 UW-River Falls (5-0) vs. #7 UW-Whitewater (4-1); #8 Saint John’s (4-1) vs. Carleton (5-0); #10 Johns Hopkins (5-0) vs. Franklin & Marshall (4-1); #11 Randolph-Macon (5-0) vs. Bridgewater (4-1); #15 Ithaca (4-1) vs. Union (6-0); #19 Alma (5-0) vs. Hope (5-1); Washington U. (5-0) vs. Augustana (4-1); Trinity CT (4-0) vs. Middlebury (3-1); King’s (4-1) vs. Lebanon Valley (4-1).

THE WEEKEND
4. Looking Back at Last Weekend

Alejandro Gomez, Emory

The first weekend of October saw most of the top teams in field hockey, soccer and volleyball hold serve, but this week’s coaches’ polls will look different than last week’s after the weekend results are factored in.

Soccer (M)

#1 Messiah d. #12 Widener, 2-0

#2 Mary Washington tied #24 Lynchburg, 2-2

#5 Emory d. #20 Case Western Reserve, 1-0

NYU d. #10 Chicago, 1-0

Geneseo d. #15 Cortland, 2-1

#18 Frank. & Marshall d. #16 Muhlenberg, 4-2

Soccer (W)

#1 Carnegie Mellon tied #12 Rochester, 1-1

#6 Case Western Reserve d. #25 Emory, 3-1

Connecticut College d. #7 Williams, 2-0

#9 Montclair State tied Rowan, 0-0

Bates d. #17 Hamilton, 2-0

Field Hockey

#1 Middlebury d. Endicott, 4-1

#6 Salisbury d. #9 Williams, 1-0

#10 Bates d. #20 Hamilton, 5-0

#12 Bowdoin d. #13 Amherst, 3-2

Washington College d. #16 Ursinus, 2-0

#19 TCNJ d. #11 Kean, 2-1

Volleyball (W)

#1 Juniata d. Wilkes, 3-0

#2 UW-Oshkosh d. UW-Stout, 3-0

#5 Emory d. #10 NYU, 3-1

#9 Johns Hopkins d. Stevenson, 3-2

#12 Washington U. d. #20 North Park, 3-0

Pomona-Pitzer d. #19 La Verne, 3-1

BANDS
5. The Bracket

Here. We. Go.

The 2023 D3Playbook “Best Fight Song” in Division III contest is underway.

For each of the 16 first-round contests, you can vote via “X” (or as I prefer, Twitter), to select your preference. Polls open at 7 AM ET and close at midnight ET.

Here is the bracket and this week’s online matchups.

NEWS
6. Lightning Round

🗞 News. Due to a scheduling conflict, the semifinals and finals of the 2026 Division I Men's and Women's Lacrosse Championships, along with the finals of the Division II and III Men's Championships, will be moved from Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass. The facility was named as one of the sites for the 2026 FIFA Men's World Cup, prompting the venue change.

TRANSACTIONS
7. Comings and Goings

HIGHLIGHTS
8. #D3Plays

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