GENEVA, Ohio –
Isaac vanWestrienen closed the book on one of the greatest athletic seasons by a Cornell runner with his second all-America effort in three days at the NCAA Division III Outdoor Track & Field Championships at SPIRE Institute.
The leader with less than three laps to go in the men's 5000-meter run Saturday, VanWestrienen crossed fifth with a time of 14:16.75 to earn a spot on the podium.
Top-seeded Chasen Hunt of Lynchburg clocked a winning time of 14:10.51. Less than two seconds separated the No. 2-8 all-America finishers. Pomona-Pitzer's Quinn White was runner-up (14:15.04), followed by Johns Hopkins' Emmanuel Leblond (14:16.54) and NYU's Ryan Tobin (14:16.67).
VanWestrienen nipped North Central's Braden Nicholson, the 10000-meter champion, by .08 seconds for fifth place.
It was an extraordinary NCAA outdoor debut for Cornell's junior distance phenom, who on Thursday took third in the 10000. That marked the highest NCAA finish by a Cornell men's competitor in 33 years.
VanWestrienen was the only male athlete to place in the top five in both the 10000 and 5000 this weekend.
Behind vanWestrienen's 10 points in two events, Cornell's men tied for 21st in the final team standings. Coach
Jerry Monner's Rams were the top finisher among all Iowa schools.
VanWestrienen made a bold move to the front of the pack at the 3000-meter mark in Saturday's race. He led the 22-man field for more than two laps before Hunt charged ahead.
Saturday marked vanWestrienen's third all-America performance on the track in a span of 10 weeks. He placed fifth in the 5000 at NCAA indoors.
VanWestrienen joined Tony Every (1991) as the only Cornell male athletes ever to earn three all-America awards in the same track & field year.
During an exceptional 2024-25 – which includes cross country – vanWestrienen was a seven-time all-region performer, six-time Midwest Conference champion and five-time NCAA qualifier. He broke seven school records in track and guided the Rams to MWC team titles in cross country and indoor track & field.
