John Quackenbos/The Hoya Mike Smith led the Georgetown men’s cross country team to a disappointing 18th place finish.

TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Led by the All-American performance of senior Mike Smith, the Georgetown men’s cross country team earned an 18th place finish at the NCAA Championships on onday.

Stanford won the meet with 47 points, Wisconsin was second with 107 and Eastern Michigan finished third with 165 points.

“I thought the team’s performance was disappointing, particularly coming off a pretty good showing at the regional meet. What I think we found out was that our region, and the Big East conference, wasn’t as good as we thought it was,” Director of Track and Field and Cross Country Ron Helmer said.

Smith’s performance, which placed him No. 45 in the team scoring, clearly stood out as the highlight of the meet. A week after claiming the Mid-Atlantic Regional Championship, Smith timed 30:39.5 on the 10,000m course to place 30 positions ahead of Georgetown’s second scorer, sophomore Rod Koborsi, who timed 31:07.1.

“I knew I ran as hard as I could,” Smith said. “I said to myself as I was staggering through the finish chute – and out loud, I think – `you ran as hard as you could.’ And what else can you do? Team-wise, it was pretty disappointing. I can only do my job out there. I try to be a leader as a captain, and I’m not angry, I’m just disappointed. I think some people have some thinking to do about what we need to change.”

“At least Mike got out and got something decent going,” Helmer said. “But overall, we could have been a lot better than we were.”

Following Smith and Koborsi as the Hoyas’ third scorer was freshman Fleet Hower, who timed 31:10.5 to collect 83 points in the team scoring.

“Fleet Hower, as a freshman, to come off a big race last weekend and then have another really solid performance was a big deal,” Helmer said.

Senior Javon Broderick (31:11.8), who led the team at the Big East Championships, and freshman Chris Lukezic (32:27.8), who was running in just his second collegiate cross country race, were the Hoyas’ fourth and fifth scorers.

Senior Daniel Tebbano suffered an injury, and despite being able to finish the race, was taken to the hospital afterward for evaluation.

As a talent-laden team that looked to have just had an off-day, the men’s team is looking toward the indoor and outdoor track seasons as a chance for redemption.

“They’ve got to go home and put some things together,” Helmer said. “We return a lot of guys, and I think we still believe we’re on our way.”