ROCHESTER, N.Y. – Cornell's Isaac vanWestrienen closed an exceptional junior indoor season Saturday in the men's 3000-meter run at the NCAA Division III Track & Field Championships.
 
On the heels of an all-America fifth-place effort in Friday's 5000, vanWestrienen's bid for a second medal faded late in the 3000 race. He crossed 15th out of 20 competitors at Nazareth's Golisano Training Center.
 
Seeded sixth, vanWestrienen covered the 15 laps in 8:22.74. The all-America top-eight cutoff was 8:16.09.
 
VanWestrienen was among seven men's runners to compete in both the 5000 and 3000 races this weekend. Only three athletes placed in the top eight in both.  
 
North Central's Braden Nicholson broke away from the pack at about the halfway mark and clocked a winning time of 8:07.39. Reza Eshghi of Haverford was runner-up in 8:10.26.
 
VanWestrienen improved on last year's 19th-place showing. The five-time Midwest Conference champion and four-time NCAA qualifier earned a return trip to nationals with a school-record time of 8:09.42.
 
VanWestrienen won three MWC individual titles Feb. 28-March 1 in leading the Rams to their first conference indoor team championship since 1989.