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Boise
State sophomore Forest Braden (#35), just past five
miles.
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#92
Branden Fuller, #123 Charlie Koeppen and #290 Jared
Scott.
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Eastern
Washington's Fuller, Indiana's Koeppen and Colorado's
Scott.
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Entering
the home stretch, Stanford's Ryan Hall had a several
yard lead on Dathan Ritzenhein...
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...but
Ritzenhein caught back up, charged past Hall and pulled
away for good in the final meters.
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It
was the second year in a row that the NCAA XC Championships
had come down...
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...to
an exciting sprint finish. Last year, Colorado's Jorge
Torres (now graduated)...
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...outkicked
Arkansas' Alistair Cragg in the final meters. Ritzenhein,
a redshirt sophomore...
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...gutted out his first NCAA title here, winning by
1.3 seconds in 29:14.1.
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Ritzenhein
and Hall - along with miler Alan Webb - were both
part of the highly-touted high school...
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...class
of 2001. They lived up to their billing here, providing
an exciting race.
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Ritzenhein
led his young Colorado team to a sixth-place finish.
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Hall
(2nd, 29:15.4) led Stanford, but all of his teammates
were close behind, with a 29-second 1-5 spread.
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Gavin
Thompson, a senior at Eastern Michigan and a native
of Great Britain...
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...hung
on to third place, finishing in 29:17.4.
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Grant
Robison, one of the country's top milers, finished
fourth in 29:19.2.
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Stanford
senior Ian Dobson finished fifth in 29:24.7.
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After
finishing ninth as a junior and 20th as a sophomore,
Dobson...
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...earned
All-American honors here (for the third-straight year)
with his best NCAA XC finish yet.
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Louis
Luchini finished sixth overall (29:28.2) and - amazingly
- fourth for his team.
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