Central’s Silver, Jorgenson are men’s cross country all-Americans
NEWVILLE, PA.—For just the second time in school history, two Central College men’s cross country runners gained all-America distinction as the Dutch soared to 15th place at the NCAA Division III Championships Saturday.
Caleb Silver (5th-year, Conrad, BCLUW HS) surged to seventh place individually in 24:35.8 on the 8,000-meter course. He received all-America distinction for the second time after finishing 25th last year.
In program history, that’s second only to Eli Horton, who was fourth in 2013. Meanwhile, Noah Jorgenson (senior, Sidney) was 24th in 24:53.6, up from 79th last year, to also gain all-America honors. It’s the first time since 2013 and the second time overall that the Dutch have had multiple all-America honorees.
Silver and Jorgenson had both qualified for the national meet as individuals last year, but the Dutch made the field as a team for the first time since 2015. Ranked No. 21 heading into the meet, Central’s 15th-place showing was its highest since taking 11th in 2014. There were 32 teams in the elite field.
Pomona-Pitzer (Calif.), ranked No. 8 in the USTFCCCA Division III poll, was the surprise winner with 158, knocking off No. 1 Wisconsin-La Crosse, which had 159. No 2 North Central College (Ill.) was third with 169 and No. 5 Wartburg College, the American Rivers champ, was fifth at 232. Central was 15th at 407 behind No. 19 Johns Hopkins University (Md.), which was 14th with 391.
Individually, Adam Sylvia (5th-year, Rochester, Mass., Old Rochester HS), in his first national meet, was 100th in 25:42.5. Derek Webster (junior, Norwalk) was 179th in 26:11.7, Jack Orengo (5th-year, Naperville, Ill., Neuqua Valley HS), who hadn’t even cracked Central’s varsity seven prior to the Oct. 28 American Rivers meet, was 220th in 26:29.0, Jack Brown (freshman, Norwalk) was 243rd in 26:39.2 and William Wadsley (freshman, Gilbert) 260th in 26:48.9.
Once again, Silver came up big when it mattered.
“He’s a gamer,” coach Joe Dunham said. “He’s been that way his whole career and he certainly did not disappoint today. He ran a great race. He was really smart right from the beginning. He didn’t panic when it got out really fast and then they got back into the woods and it gets really hard back there. There are a lot of big hills and no fans back there. It’s a tough battle. But he was able to get calm and kept pressing and actually moved up quite a bit. That put him in position to have a great race.”
Dunham was thrilled to have an additional all-American showing.
“It was an unbelievable finish for Noah (Jorgenson),” he said. “Obviously, being there last year really helped him in terms of knowing what to expect. Much like Caleb, he was able to be calm in the middle part of the race and move up. I just think we were really well prepared for the more challenging course.”
Sylvia, Webster and Orengo’s efforts were crucial for Central’s team finish.
“We were relying on some guys that had never been to nationals before,” Dunham said. “It’s really hard to do when you haven’t had that experience. But they were very coachable this week. We talked a lot about getting out of our comfort zone early and about having to run this race differently than we have all year. They ran a great, great race from the very beginning. To be ranked 21st and finish 15th, I couldn’t be more happy.
“It was great to see us perform our best at the most important meet of the year.”
