Occidental’s Beltran, Hogan Fare Well in National Meet

Occidental College cross-country runners Marcial Beltran and Emmet Hogan earned All-American honors by placing sixth and eighth, respectively, in the NCAA Division III championships in Grinnell, Iowa, on Saturday.

Occidental placed fifth in the team standings with 137 points, eight behind fourth-place Rochester. Oshkosh won the meet with 87 points, followed by North Central of Naperville, Ill., (100) and La Crosse, Wis., (109).

It was Occidental’s best showing since the Tigers won the national championship in 1977.

Beltran covered the 8,000-meter course in 25 minutes 9 seconds, and Hogan was seven seconds behind. Seamus McElligott of Haverford, Pa., won in 24:46.

“I thought we ran as we expected,” Occidental Coach Bill Harvey said. “We ran to our potential.”

Konstantine Kindreich (39th in 25:49), Jose Garcia (53rd in 26:02) and freshman Doug Wright (87th in 26:25) completed the Occidental scoring.

Laurie Schuster placed 13th in 18:13 for Occidental in the women’s 5,000-meter race and also earned All-American honors. Teammate Betty Kopchik placed 39th in 18:45.

The Occidental women finished 10th in the team standings with 234 points.

Vicky Smith of Cortland won the race in 17:24 to lead her team to the title with 43 points.