LOUISVILLE, Ky.--The Bellarmine University men's cross country team finished 22nd in today's NCAA Division II National Championship run today at snow-covered E.P. "Tom" Sawyer State Park.

"I felt like the snow made for an extremely dynamic setting for the event," said Bellarmine Head Coach Jim Vargo. "Similar to horse racing, this was a race for mudders," Varo added, "and I think we're built a little more for speed than strength."

The Knights, who came into the championship ranked No. 25, were led by Jordan Parayil, who finished the 10 kilometer course in at time of 32:47.9, which was 100th overall in the race.  Ben Draper and Nate Dotterweich were within 23 seconds of their teammate and finished 109th and 110th respectively.

Other Bellarmine runners included: Robert Sandlin, 156th, 34:22.8; Alex Jones, 162nd, 34:44.1; Neal Masterson, 168th, 34:57.9; and Justin Smith, 170th, 35:14.3.

Adams State won the team national championship, and Michael Crouch of Queens (N.C.) College took the individual title with a time of 30:43.2.

"All in all, I'm very pleased with the season," Vargo said. "Our focus all year has been to give us an opportunity to run on a stage like this, and we did that.  If you would have told me a year ago that our men's team would return to nationals for the first time since 1982 and our women's team would win their first ever conference championship, I think I would have been happy with that."

Vargo said he hopes that Bellarmine appearing in the national championship will become a regular occurrence. "We return five of our top six runners, so we're very optimistic about next season and even for few years past that."

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