By Dave Johnson
W&M Athletics
 
Picture a late October morning in New England, and you probably get a little shiver. Add a light but steady rain, and conditions were hardly ideal for the Colonial Athletic Association cross country championship last weekend.
 
Although there were some slips and spills along the way, William & Mary's men won their 28th championship in 32 years by holding off hometown favorite Northeastern. With five runners finishing in the top 10, the Tribe claimed first place with 28 points, 11 fewer than the Huskies.
 
It was a sweet bounce back after last spring's second-place finish, which broke a string of 20 consecutive championships.
 
"I think that motivated everybody," head coach Forest Braden said. "We had to get back to basics and do things better than we did last year and have a better mentality. We had to be better across the board, and we definitely were. We could really tell from day one of the season that it was a different squad.
 
"Spencer (Tsai) and Ryan McCracken were our only seniors racing. Being part of the team that broke the streak was a tough thing. It made it that much sweeter for those guys to run so well. They went out on top, which was great to see."
 
Sophomore Sam Pritchard was W&M's top finisher on the 8K course with a time of 25:06.20, five seconds behind first-place winner Alexander Korczynski of Northeastern. Teammate Jacob Jones was on Pritchard's heels at 25:06.40 for third.
 
Tsai was sixth (25:17.10), Andrew Lagattuta eighth (25:28.10) and Tyler Lipps ninth (25:29.10) to round out William & Mary's scoring top five. Patrick North gave the Tribe its sixth top-10 and All-CAA finish at 25:35.90.
 
"All things considered, I thought we ran pretty fast on that course," Braden said. "It's definitely a slower course, and with the rain, it made it even slower."
 
The time difference between W&M's first- and fifth-place finishers was only 22.9 seconds. Two weeks earlier at Panorama Farms outside Charlottesville, in another 8K race, the gap was 47.5 seconds.
 
"This was our lowest spread from one to five all year, which is something I was really pleased with," Braden said. "That's something we've been working on all year.
 
"Actually, one to six (29.7 seconds) was pretty good, and one to eight (59.2) was even a good spread. That shows how close we are as a team and the parity of the team. The depth of our program through the years has been really good."
 
Braden will have to clear off some space for yet another trophy, but this one is on hold. Apparently, something broke off the award before the presentation and needs to be repaired before being shipped to Williamsburg.
 
Next for William & Mary is the NCAA Southeast Region Championship, which is to be held Nov. 12 in Louisville, Kentucky. In its last trip two years ago, the Tribe finished 12th out of 35 teams.
 
"The parity on the men's side between fifth and 15th is pretty strong," Braden said. "It should be a really good meet. I think we're in a good place, especially if our pack can stay as close. If we can have a 30-second spread or something like that from one to five, I think we'd be in really good shape.
 
"We definitely want to pop back into the top six or seven. The top two get an automatic bid, and on paper we're not one of those top two. But on race day, anything can happen. We're going in with an open mind and try to relax, run loose, and let our fitness shine through."