PITTSBURGH – Mansfield University's Ryan Clifford competed at the NCAA Cross Country National Championship in Pittsburgh on Saturday morning at the Bob O'Connor Golf Course at Schenley Park.
 
The senior cross country runner came in at 145^th in the nation out of over 260 runners. Clifford crossed the finish line at 35:10. After running the same course two weeks ago, another cold morning in Pittsburgh created less-than-ideal conditions. "Brutal" was the word used by the NCAA commentator on FLOTV.
 
The initial start was called back after about 100 yards when officials deemed that too many runners had fallen in the mud right out of the gates. The restart proved to be nearly as disastrous. Within a minute of running, the competitors came to a severe bottleneck in the course, causing the runners to try and funnel through all at once.
 
Clifford was just the fourth Mansfield runner to compete at the NCAA National Championships, and the first since Chris Cummings earned All-American accolades in 2007.
 


To get to Nationals, Clifford placed fourth overall in the NCAA Atlantic Regional meet, finishing the race in 34:34. Earlier in the season, he led all male runners three times, including his first place in the 7K on senior day in Mansfield. He finished second at the PSAC Championships in Edinboro and was the first PSAC runner to finish at regionals.