By Anthony Panciocco
His last race certainly was a memorable one.
University of Maine senior Kelton Cullenberg finished his season and collegiate cross country career Saturday morning with a 126th-place finish at the NCAA Cross Country Championships in Terra Haute, Ind.
Cullenberg finished in 126th place out of a 253-runner field comprised of the strongest Division-I athletes from around the country.
He crossed the line with a time of 31:32:1, his second fastest 10K time of his life. Only the 30:35:7 that he ran last week at NCAA Regionals to qualify for the Championship meet was better. He averaged about 4:50 per mile on the slippery course, an impressive time considering the difficult terrain.
Freshman Edward Cheserek of the famed University of Oregon cross country team won the individual title with a time of 29:41:1, exactly one minute shy of the course record set in 2009 by Liberty University runner Sam Chelanga.
Cheserek was followed by Texas Tech senior Kennedy Kithuka, who beat out Harvard University senior Maksim Korolev by just .4 seconds in an exciting race to the finish.
Cullenberg was the only Black Bear to qualify for the Championship race, so the University of Maine was not scored in the team section of the standings. The University of Colorado went into the race ranked third in the country but won the meet convincingly, led by freshman Ben Saarel’s 30:14:1 8th place finish and sophomore Morgan Pearson’s 30:25 17th place.
The Buffs scored a meet-high 148 points. They were followed by fellow Pac-12 competitor No. 2 Northern Arizona University with 167 and Oklahoma State University with 228 points.
The running conditions were less than ideal, which made for a hard-fought, gritty race. It rained most of Friday evening and night, so the course was full of mud and slippery turns that slowed down the competitors as many had trouble keeping their footing at times.
This is not the end of Cullenberg’s collegiate athletic career. He already has his sights set on the indoor track season, where he has been a standout middle distance and distance runner since his freshman year.
Last year, he led the Black Bears to a third place finish at the America East Championships while winning the 5,000 meter title with a time of 14:51:85. He was also named to the America East All-Academic Team following the track and field season last spring.