TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Stanford freshman Connor Lane won the men's U.S. Junior Cross Country championship on Saturday at Apalachee Regional Park.
Lane ran 25:04.7 over the 8-kilometer (4.97-mile) course, with Cardinal teammate Michael Vernau in third (25:18.3) in the under-20 race.
Lane and Vernau qualified to represent the U.S. at the NACAC Cross Country Championships in San Salvador, El Salvador, on Feb. 17. The meet serves as the championship for North and Central America and the Caribbean.
Lane and Vernau ran together in the front pack throughout the race, content to let Washington's Tibebu Proctor lead. Lane was second and Vernau third coming into the final kilometer and the race came down to a kick. Lane's was devastating, as he pulled away down the stretch to beat runner-up Proctor by seven seconds.
Lane is the eighth Stanford runner to win the U.S. junior men's title and the first since Sean McGorty in 2014. Stanford's list of winners -- Greg Jimmerson (1994), Brad Hauser (1995), Brent Hauser (1996), Gabe Jennings (1997), Elliott Heath (2007), Erik Olson (2011), and McGorty -- have combined for 68 All-America honors on The Farm.
Lane and Vernau each raced three times during their first collegiate cross country season last fall, with both in the lineup when the Cardinal placed second at the Bill Dellinger Invitational in Oregon on Sept. 29.
In the U.S. senior men's race, Stanford alum Brendan Gregg, whose father, Bill Gregg, coached Vernau at Davis (Calif.) High, placed 18th in 30:08.5 over 10K (6.21 miles).