Luchini 53rd at national meet

AMES, Iowa – Former Ellsworth runner Louie Luchini finished 53rd and his Stanford Cardinal team wound up in fourth place during Monday’s NCAA Cross Country Championships.

Luchini is a sophomore at the school, but has freshman eligibility in cross country. He toured the 6.2-mile course in 31 minutes, 19.3 seconds and was the fourth Cardinal runner to cross the finish line. The winner, Keith Kelly of Providence, ran 30:14.5.

The Arkansas men won the team title with 83 points, while Luchini’s Stanford squad, which spent much of the year as the second-ranked team in the nation, scored 149. Colorado (94) and Providence (121) also topped the Cardinal.

Mark Pilja of Michigan, who won the University of Maine’s Murray Keatinge Invitational in September, finished 17th in 30:48.