Newville, Pa. -- The University of Lynchburg men's cross country team placed ninth at the national championship on Saturday.
It was Lynchburg's best finish in program history at the championship meet. The Hornets placed 13th in 1991.
Graduate student Frank Csorba led the Hornets to their historic finish with an All-American effort in 14th. He crossed the finish line in 24:43.1. He is Lynchburg's first All-American since 2012 and the 10th in the history of the program. Csorba is now a five-time All-American with two indoor awards and two outdoor accolades.
Sam Llaneza, another indoor and outdoor All-American, was the next Hornet across the line coming in 42nd. Chasen Hunt placed 53rd in 25:19.4, and Tor Hotung-Davidsen came in 80th with a 25:25.3 effort rounding out Lynchburg's four athletes in the top-100. Bryce Davis placed 184th in 26:13.1, Jonathan Cobb went 26:24.1 for 211st place, and Cooper Hurst went 27:12.5 in 277th.
Hotung-Davidsen closed out the last two kilometers by passing 20 racers ahead of him at the 6k mark, Llaneza beat out 10 people over the same stretch, and Cobb made the biggest move on the team by increasing his positioning by 32 spots .
Not only was Lynchburg's ninth-place finish the best in program history, it was also the best finish by any Old Dominion Athletic Conference school at the national meet.
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The Hornets earned their spot at the championship meet after winning the program's first South regional championship since 2012 and eighth all-time. Lynchburg entered the weekend as the No. 10-ranked team in Division III and outperformed that ranking by one spot.
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