St. Olaf College freshman Arne Ellefson-Carnes finished in 159th place in the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships on Saturday in Louisville, Kentucky.
The former standout runner for Juneau-Douglas High School: Yadaat.at Kalé was third-fastest on his team in the 8-kilometer race at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park. Ellefson-Carnes finished in 25 minutes, 49.9 seconds, almost 30 seconds faster than his time at the NCAA Division III Central Region Championships the weekend prior.
“I enjoyed it,” Ellefson-Carnes said by phone Saturday. “The weather was kind of Southeast weather. It was wet and muddy.”
St. Olaf’s Elliot Kadrofske (78th) and Sean Lonergan (101st) finished ahead of the Juneauite while four others trailed behind for a 25th-place team finish. Pomona-Pitzer won the team title with 164 points and Patrick Watson of Stevenson University won the individual title.
“We didn’t all necessarily have amazing races, but I think it went well,” Ellefson-Carnes said. “We’re all pretty happy about our team finish.”
He said more so than other meets, Saturday’s meet was about starting fast in order to establish his spot on the course. He said his first mile was probably 10 seconds faster than any other first mile of any other race this season.
“Everyone wants to have a good position right off the bat because otherwise, it’s so hard to pass whatever 150 people throughout the race,” Ellefson-Carnes said.
St. Olaf has competed in 16 NCAA national championships meets in its history.
• Contact sports reporter Nolin Ainsworth at 523-2272 or nainsworth@juneauempire.com.
