Wabash captured its third consecutive NCAA Division III Great Lakes Cross Country Regional title Saturday.
 
The Little Giants turned in massive time improvements on the LaVerne Gibson Course in Terre Haute, Indiana, site the Indiana Intercollegiate Championships in mid-September in addition to the location of Saturday's regional competition.
 
Senior Fabian House trimmed 48 seconds off his time in September by finishing third at the regional at 25:25.4. Colin Rinne joined House in the top ten, placing eighth at 25:35.6 while cutting 1:27 off his previous course time.
 
Adam Togami added a third top-ten finish, crossing the line in 25:38.3 for 10^th, showing a 48-second improvement. Dominica Patacsil placed 24th overall to give Wabash four all-region performances. Patascil's time of 25:57.0 improved 1:28 from September's early effort on the course.
 
Mason McKinney returned to the lineup to finish 54^th overall with a time of 26:30, four seconds ahead of his September time in Terre Haute. McKinney missed the North Coast Athletic Conference meet two weeks ago due to an illness. Allegheny edged Wabash out for the NCAC title two weeks prior to the regional championship event.
 
McKinney's 54^th place finish in Saturday's meet helped Wabash place two points ahead of fellow NCAC member Allegheny College to claim the regional crown. The Little Giants posted a score of 99 points while Allegheny claimed the second automatic berth at next Saturday's national championship meet with a score of 101. Calvin place third with 122 points, followed by Ohio Northern (165) and Ohio Wesleyan (187) to round out the top-five spots.
 
Cordell Lewis placed 58^th for Wabash with a time of 26:38.3, an improvement of 36 seconds from earlier in the year. Luke Doughty crossed the line in 27:41.3, trimming three seconds off his earlier time.
 
Oberlin's Geno Arthur won the race with a time of 25:13. Logan Steiner from Allegheny placed second by finishing in 25:23. House place third 12 seconds back from the champion.
 
"Fabian and Adam are very steady for us," Wabash head coach Colin Young said. "Dominic showed continued improvement today with a strong finish. Dominic really stepped up, as well. He's been our fifth guy but he became our fourth guy today. 1:28 faster. We expect Mason to make another jump next week when he's feeling better. I think he is still feeling the effects of his illness and still trying to get back into the racing groove. Today really showed that every place counts. If Mason was a second or two back we would not have won. Our perspective is this is a qualifying race for nationals but still it was great to go out and win the race by a close margin. We have guys healthy and positive.
 
"It was great to share the win with all of the alumni who came out, as well as the parents and the rest of the team members.
 
It was a special day for Wabash. We're excited and ready to run even better next week."
 
The Little Giants will travel to Winneconne, Wisconsin next Saturday to compete at the NCAA DIII Championship meet. The University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh will serve as the host school.