For the first time in 11 years, the men’s cross country team sent two All-American runners to the NCAA D-III Championship race, which was held on Nov. 17 at Rose Hulman Institute in Indiana. 
Stephen Allison ’02 and Todd Forsgren ’03 were the last Polar Bears to accomplish this feat back in 2001. This year, juniors Coby Horowitz and Sam Seekins bested Allison and Forsgren’s 11th and 24th place finishes, ending in ninth and 17th in the 8k race. Horowitz’s ninth place finish is the highest recorded finish  for a Bowdoin male runner at Nationals.
“Sam and Coby have been championship runners for a long time and they knew they belonged up in the top 20 of this race,” said Coach Peter Slovenski. “They got in good position at the first mile and then ran very smart in the middle miles and very tough in the final miles.” 
Both Seekins and Horowitz ran sub-25 minute races for the second consecutive week. This week’s course was more challenging and slower than the flat and fast course at NCAA Regionals, making their sub-25 runs an especially impressive effort.
Nick Saba ’14 was the third runner for the Polar Bears, coming off his All New England success at the last race. This week, he was recovering from illness, which may have accounted for his drop in the standings to 154th.
Kevin Hoose ’15 and Greg Talpey ’14 ran fourth and fifth for Bowdoin, taking 171st and 179th. James Boeding ’14 and Marcus Schneider ’13 were Bowdoin’s sixth and seventh runners, placing 177th and 269th.
The Polar Bears finished 16th out of 32 teams. Going into the race, the team was hoping for a top 10 finish. With no seniors in the top six, however, the Polar Bears have an excellent chance to achieve this goal in 2013.
“The top six runners learned valuable lessons about preparing for and racing at a high level in such an extreme sport,” said Slovenski. “Excelling at cross country requires learning how to balance incredibly hard work with the rest of their lives—I think each year college runners get a little better at doing that.”
In the offseason, the team will emphasize hill training in preparation for the Nationals course in 2013 in Hanover, Indiana, a very hilly course.
“The guys worked really hard this year and learned a lot. I’m really proud of the great attitude and poise they had all year,” he said.