COLUMBIA, Mo. – Seniors
Owen Karas and
Kenan Pala represented Yale at the NCAA Men's Cross Country Championships Saturday morning at Gans Creek Cross Country Course. Both were competing at the Championships for the first time, having earned their spots based on their finishes at the NCAA Northeast Regional Championships on Nov. 14.
Karas moved up steadily in the first half of the race and was 155th at the 5K mark. He eventually finished 185th with a time of 30:21.3 for the 10K. He was eighth among Ivy League runners. Pala was 181st through the first 3K before eventually finishing 218th with a time of 30:39.6 for the 10K.
The race concluded two remarkable cross country careers. Karas and Pala were both two-time All-Region honorees, and over the past two seasons they helped Yale to its first back-to-back top-five finishes at NCAA Regionals since 2003 and 2004. They qualified individually for the NCAA Championships based on being among the top four Northeast Regional finishers not on an advancing team. They were the first Bulldogs to compete in the NCAA Championships since
Sean Kay '24 finished 177th in 2023.
The Championships included 32 teams. There were 259 individual finishers. Yale was one of three Ivy League schools represented, joining No. 29 Harvard and No. 18 Princeton. The Tigers finished 27th (598 points) and the Crimson finished 29th (656 points).
Oklahoma State (57 points) won the meet, and New Mexico's Habtom Samuel finished first individually (28:33.9).
