WINNECONNE, Wis. – Andrew Stumbo (So., Boone, Iowa) raced in the NCAA Championships and came away with a 98th place finish on Saturday afternoon with a time of 25:35.2.
On the performance of Stumbo, coach Brenden Huber said, “Unfortunately there was a lot of people that went down early in the race and Andrew happened to be one of them, but he got himself back up, didn’t panic, and he was able to move himself back up through the field.”
Stumbo was in 206th place at the 3k mark and battled all the way back through the race to crack the top 100.
“It was awesome to see him to compete so well with what we were given as it was a different environment than he had ran in this year,” said Huber. “For him to move up from 206th to 98th in the last five kilometers was spectacular considering that he was one of a large number of people that went down early in the race.”
On his first time competing at the NCAA Championship Stumbo said, “It was crazy. There was so many quality runners packed into the same spot which got kind of frustrating but there was a ton of fans there showing support and cheering the whole time and it was honestly electric. It was a whole new atmosphere and you could tell the runners appreciated it.”
A large pack of Gustie cross country athletes showed up to the race to cheer Stumbo on. “It was super cool to see so many of my fellow Gustavus runners and my best friends come to cheer me on and bring all these signs and buttons to show their support,” said Stumbo. “It really brought my whole experience here together nicely.”