SPARTANBURG, S.C. -- The #20th-ranked Amherst College men's cross country team ran as hot as the weather Saturday at the 2025 NCAA Div. III National Championship Meet held at Milliken Research Park, as its top four runners all finished within 10 seconds of one another, allowing the Mammoths to place 11th overall out of the 32 team competing for the title, their best finish at the national meet since 2018.

It was a balmy 75 degrees when te men's race kicked off at 10 a.m., but that did not cool off the Mammoths, who stuck together for much of the 8-kilometer course. 

"There is almost nothing that matches the energy and chaos of the thousands of screaming fans at the national XC meet," said Amherst head coach Hannah Chappell-Dick. "In preparing for this meet, we focused on maintaining composure and presence of mind within the cacophony. Instead of being overwhelmed by the noise, the team raced with patience, maturity, and heart. While the teams are young and will be dangerous for years to come, we owe much of this stability to our amazing seniors!"

Junior Stanley Craig led the way for Amherst, finishing 47th overall in  24 minutes and 49.3 seconds. He improved by 179 places from his finish a year ago at the 2024 nationals. Closely behind was junior Harrison Dow, who ran to a 55th-place finish in 24:53.9. First-year Carter Bengtson was 57th with a time of 24.54.5 and senior Henry Dennen -- improving by 174 places from 2024 -- finished 66th with a time of 24.59.1.

"That was some truly excellent racing from the Mammoth squad," said Chapell-Dick. "It was a hazardous 75 degrees, but despite the dramatic change from Northern conditions, both the men and women far outperformed their seeds. The men's 1-4 split of 10 seconds was unreal."

Bengtson had the third-best finish of any freshmen at the nationals today. 

Senior Thomas Stephens helped the Mammoths to that 11th-place finish by placing 192nd overall in 25:56.5. 291 runners competed in the race. 

Also running for the Mammoths today were junior Harrison Talcott, who placed 237th in 26:20.1 and junior Parker Boyle, who finished 277th in 27:09.1. 

The Mammoths finished just 3 points out of the top-10 in the team standings. The University of Wisconsn-Lacrosse won the team title, while Emmanuel Leblond of Johns Hopkins won the individual title.