The Purple and White was led by junior Jeremy Velliquette (Fremont/St. Joseph), who finished 60th overall with a time of 26:51.

Other contributers included sophomore Jason Sigmund (Streetsboro/Walsh Jesuit) who placed 105th overall (27:16), freshman Dustin Ford (Canton/Perry) finished 132nd (27:33), and senior Chris Paulett (Akron/Revere), and sophomore Brian Bernard, (Stow) finished the 8,000 meter course with an identical time of 27:45 finishing 149th and 150th respectively.

"Today was a great learning experience for each of us - five out of the seven student-athletes on this team have never experienced a national championship event," Velliquette stated afterwards. "Our team is very young, and hopefully we gained some valuable experience at a big meet that will lead to future success."

This was Mount Union's third trip to the NCAA Men's Division III Cross Country Championships in the previous five seasons. The Purple Raiders finished 17th in 2001 and 14th in 2002.

The Purple Raiders are coached by John Homon, who has produced 10 NCAA qualifying teams and 11 Ohio Athletic Conference Championships in his 27 years as the head cross country coach at Mount Union. He is assisted by Doug Brown, a 1999 graduate of Mount Union and a two-time cross country All-American.