It was definitely cross-country weather as an overcast sky, a steady wind and 4?C temperatures greeted the men as they traversed the 10-kilometre LaVern Gibson course at the Wabash Family Sports Center in Terre Haute, Indiana. The course was dry and fast times were no doubt on the horizon. The top contenders at Sunday's press conference wouldn't tip their tactical hand but all agreed it would be indeed be fast.

There were five Irishmen competing at the Championships. Martin Fagan entered the race as the Irishman having won three of his five races along with setting a course record at Van Cortlandt Park in New York while winning the Big East individual title. A top ten finish would be optimistic for the Providence senior - a top twenty result would be acceptable and impressive given the level of competition in the NCAA.

Mick Byrne's Iona Gaels entered the race ranked 13th in the NCAA and hoped for fourth consecutive top 10 finish.

Fagan, from Mullingar couldn't overcome the temptation to lead, a tactic he's embraced with success all season. But this was the NCAA Championship and very few athletes with an early held it to the finishing line. Fagan was uncomfortably tucked behind the leaders for the first mile before taking over the pacing chores for the capable crowd of harriers.

Fagan wasn't the only nervous runner; Texas Pan American's Westly Keating took over the lead at 4-kilometres with Liberty's Josh McDougal in front at 5k in 14.55.

Iona's Richard Kiplagat, Keating, McDougal and Simon Bairu, the defending champion from Wisconsin broke away on the uphill just past the 7-kilometre mark. A kilometer later the time was 23.33 with Keating was dropped with McDougal fading. With a bit more a mile remaining Wisconsin coach Jerry Schumacher told Bairu that they had wrapped up the team title and to go for the win. At 9k, Bairu injected just enough pace to leave Kiplagat and pulled away to win in 29.16, six seconds clear of Kiplagat. Bairu's time was fast as promised - more than one minute and twenty seconds faster than last year's winning time of 30.38.

After finishing in the runner-up position for three years in a row, the Badgers claimed first with an impressive 37 points. John McDonnell's Arkansas Razorback squad was second with 105 points, Notre Dame placed third with 178 and Byrne's Iona College squad placed fourth with a tally of 205.

McDonnell commented on his team's performance, "I have to hand it to Wisconsin, they were better than us today. We didn't run badly, we just couldn't match it. Wisconsin had too many people up front. I'm not disappointed. Getting second to Wisconsin is OK."

Mick Byrne was ecstatic, "This is our fourth year in a row with a Top 10 finish and to get back on the podium is special. The guys ran a great race. It was our goal all season to finish on the podium."

Iona beat dominant teams such as defending champion Colorado, perennial powerhouse Stanford, big schools like Texas and Oklahoma State and a host of others.

Kiplagat's second place finish was the best finish ever at the National Championship for an Iona cross country runner. His time of 29:22 was six seconds behind the first place finisher.

"Richard ran an amazing race finishing second to a great champion in Simon Bairu who defended his title from 2004," continued an elated Coach Byrne. "He can walk out of Terre Haute knowing that he left everything out there on the course. There were no reserves in his tank. Richard was totally committed to winning the national championship but to finish runner up is very special for Iona. It will go down as one of the greatest performances ever in Iona history."

After covering 5k in 5k in 14.55, Fagan lost 20 seconds to the leaders in the nest 3-kilomtres crossing 8k in 23.53. The reigning Irish 5k Champion gathered himself and finished strong placing 16th in 30.00. Providence coach Ray Treacy was pleased with Fagan's perseverance saying, "Martin was a little too aggressive over the first 5k. I have no doubt the lessons learned here will stand to him in good stead for the Europeans. There was no quit in him though over the last 3k and he fought hard to the end."

The second Irishman across the line was Iona's Andrew Ledwith who placed 65th in 30.40.2. Ledwith, from Athboy, Co Meath ran relatively even splits covering 5k in 15.17 and eclipsing the 8k mark in 24.29.

Byrne was very pleased with Ledwith's race saying, "His contribution to our fourth place finish was very rewarding considering Andrew missed a ton of training in the summer due to his knee injury. He showed real poise and maturity and ran with guts. He was never intimidated by the quality of this field. Over the last 2k he fought like a true champion. Andrew took a lot from this experience which will stand to him down the road at the National Championships."

Northern Arizona's Johanna Nilsson (Kalmar, Sweden) was content to be ensconced in the lead pack until Stanford sophomore Arianna Lambie made a move with two kilometres remaining in the 6-kilometre event. A move that proved premature for the 20-year-old from Harvard, Massachusetts. Six runners would pass Lambie in the final kilometre who placed 8th in 19.59.1, but the she would have the last laugh as her Cardinal team upset Duke scoring 146 points with Blue Devils totaling 185. Last year's team champion also rained on the Duke parade taken second with 181 points. Nilsson won in a course record time of 19.33.9. Columbia's Caroline Bierbaum, despite an inconsistent season managed to place second after placing third in last year's event. Notre Dame's Stephanie Madia earned the bronze position with a 19.48.4 effort.

Ray Treacy's Providence College team placed 16th with 413 points led by senior Fiona Crombie's 18th place finish. The senior from Christchurch, New Zealand ran 20.18 with junior Megan Owen the next Friar across in 88th place with a time of 21.02.

Providence College women's team has finished 10th or better as a team in 15 of 16 trips to the NCAA Cross Country Championships since 1989, including each of its last six appearances. The Friars won the NCAA crown in 1995 and placed 3rd in last year's event. The team has finished out the top-10 just once in program history (1998, 14th). PC has finished fifth place or better at the NCAA Championship six times since 1989.

A reserved Ray Treacy remarked, "The women's team gave it their all. It was tight in the team battle from 9th to 18th and unfortunately we were at the wrong end of that battle in 16th. Overall I have to be happy with the team getting to Nationals for the 17th year in a row and now we regroup to get back in the top 6 again next year."

The only Irish woman was Ava Hutchinson from Butler University but having come down with shingles after her Regional race, she was in for a long day. Hutchinson, originally from Dublin insisted on competing for her team which placed 24th with 531 points. Hutchinson, who competes for Dundrum South Dublin placed 149th in 21.35.4.

Complete Results 2005 NCAA Division I Cross Country Championships