The UW-Whitewater men’s cross country team and women’s cross country senior Ari De La Cerda competed at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships Nov. 23. Their efforts etched multiple athletes in the record books, and put a strong finish on a historic season.
Women’s: Ari De La Cerda
The women’s national championship kicked off Saturday’s events at LaVern Gibson Championship Cross Country Course in Terre Haute, Indiana. While the team did not qualify for the meet, De La Cerda competed and finished 188th with a time of 22 minutes 55.1 seconds.
By finishing at the meet, De La Cerda became the first Warhawk woman representative at nationals since Alyssa Duncan in 2012.
“Ari just missed making nationals last year by about three seconds, so she’s had to keep working at it and plugging at it,” head coach Jeff Miller said. “It gives our women the opportunity to believe that, ‘hey, maybe one of us could go again next year.’ It leaves a good motivation for the others on the team, how to work hard and continue to strive for things.”
De La Cerda finishes her Warhawk career with a strong ending as one of the most decorated runners in program history.
Men’s: Christian Patzka wins national championship, team fourth
After De La Cerda’s run, the men’s cross country team took their talents to the course, finishing fourth with 219 points. Their finish is the highest national finish in program history, topping their previous record of fifth in 1999 and 2021.
“That [team] impact means way more to me and being a part of that than any accolade,” Patzka said. “When it comes down to it, cross country is a team sport.”
In his fourth nationals appearance, senior Christian Patzka took home the individual national championship with a time of 24:01.6. After finishing as the national runner-up the two seasons prior, the last race of his Warhawk career ended up giving him the best result.
“It means everything to me to finally win a national title in cross country,” Patzka said. “It means even more to be after being injured most of the summer and not running until I got back to campus in September.”
Patzka ends his Warhawk career as the most decorated cross country athlete in Warhawk history. While his cross country career is over, he still has an opportunity to add more accolades to his resume as the track and field season inches closer.
Senior Gunner Schlender finished 12th with a time of 24:22.1, enough for the second best Warhawk finish. Schlender is also the recipient of the Elite 90 Award for NCAA Men’s Cross Country, which honors the student-athlete with the highest GPA at each national championship. He also won the award during the 2024 Outdoor Track & Field Championship, and is the second two-time recipient in Warhawk athletics history (Jared Kiesow, football, 2010 and 2011).
“He is one of the best runners ever in Division III,” Miller said. “This just solidifies things even more to go along with his track title.”
Junior Dan Anderson was the third Warhawk to cross the finish line, finishing the meet in 22nd with a time of 24:32.9. He shaved over a minute off his 2023 national championship time, which gives Miller high optimism that he has another championship contender going forward.
“We knew that Dan was a talented one when he came in,” Miller said. “He’s been able to train with Christian and Gunner, he stepped up and started training harder. He’ll be the leader of our team next year, that’s for sure.”
Senior Chris Allen finished 112th (25:15.6), junior Tucker Johnson finished 122nd (25:19.7), junior Alex Metko finished 260th (26:21.5), and sophomore Conner Murphy wrapped up the Warhawks’ finishers in 274th (26:39.1).
