Men's Cross Country | 11/20/2021 5:30:00 PM

Meet Information
Race: NCAA Division III National Championship
Location: Louisville, Ky. - E.P. "Tom Sawyer State Park
Short Story: Liam Galligan became the first men's cross country runner in Franciscan history to earn All-American status, as he placed 25th at the NCAA National Championship

Race Highlights
Franciscan Cross Country made their second trip to Louisville this season on Saturday, but this time was for the NCAA National Championship. Earlier this season Franciscan competed in the Live in Lou Classic. In that race Liam Galligan placed 7th with a time of 24:33.9, his career best time, on the same course that he would run on for the Championship today. Also Galligan ran this course for the 2019 National Championship where he placed 46th. The top 40 finishers earn All-American status, so Galligan has been training hard for 725 days since that near finish in 2019 to make his dream come true. 

Galligan started in the 44th box of 50 today in the field of 289 runners, the largest field that he has ran in this season. He started off well, as he was able to fight his way into to the lead pack in the early going. Through one kilometer, he would be in 19th place with a blazing 3:04.5. Halfway though the race at the 4K checkpoint, he was able to work up the leaderboard slightly, as he stood in 17th place with a time of 12:05.8, just a little over three seconds behind the leader then. at the 6.4K checkpoint he had slipped to 24th place, but in great position to finish the event off strong and earn his first All-American honor. 

Galligan put everything he had into the final one and a half kilometers of his final cross country meet of his collegiate career. It would be more than enough as he finished with a time of 24:12.7, a new personal best time, to come in 25th place, and earn All-American status. He becomes the first All-American runner in men's cross country history at Franciscan. He joins, his sister Grace Galligan, Bill Jones, and Leo Herrmann as the only four All-Americans in the Division III era at Franciscan University.

Liam Galligan discussed the race afterwards, "Today was one of my best executed races of the season. Positioning myself early in the race near the Top 20 was the exact race plan Coach Kuebler and I put together. I believe my experience of being at the National meet before helped me be prepared for the hat was ahead. Putting myself in position allowed me to take the shots i needed to earn All-American. With it being my last XC Race, I knew I needed to go for broke in order to achieve this goal. All thanks to the Team and my family for coming to support."

"Earning All-American has been a goal of mine since I committed to Franciscan in 2017. The journey to this day has not been easy to say the least. Through injury, growing pains and beyond, I rediscovered my love for the sport and the ability to enjoy competing at a high level. I cannot thank my coaches (Coach Dr. Daniel Kuebler and Coach Carlo Fabian) for trusting and leading me to this spot. It's great to join my sister Grace Galligan, the lone Franciscan female All-American, as an All-American now myself. God is absolutely amazing and I'm humbled and blessed to earn this goal for our team and university. 



Alex Phillip of John Carroll won the individual title with a time of 23:27.6. Ponoma-Pitzer won the team title, to give them back to back NCAA Championships on the same course. 

Click Here Full Field Results

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