"Coming into Brown, I wanted to be All-American by the time I graduated," said Dan Lowry '12.
It took him four years, but last Monday Lowry achieved his goal, placing 28th out of 252 runners at the 2011 NCAA Division I National Cross Country Championship in Terre Haute, Ind.
By finishing the 10-kilometer course in 29 minutes and 57.2 seconds, he placed among the race's first 40 finishers, qualifying him for All-American status.
"He ran really, really well," said Tim Springfield, head coach of the men's cross country team. "I couldn't have been happier with his race overall."
The field was led by Lawi Lalang of the University of Arizona, who finished the course in 28:44.1, averaging a pace of 4:37 per mile. The University of Wisconsin won the team competition with 97 points, beating second-place Oklahoma State University by 42 points.
Lowry said he started the race next to Lalang and had a fast start, but settled into a manageable pace for the first two kilometers of the race. Lowry said he was motivated when Ethan Shaw of Dartmouth passed him at five kilometers — at the 2011 Ivy League Heptagonal Championships, Shaw finished first, only 11 seconds ahead of Lowry.
"He put himself in the right spot and moved at the right time," Springfield said. "He also pushed when it got really hard."
At the two-kilometer mark, Lowry was in 55th place. From there, he worked his way up through the field.
"I focused on keeping the race in front of me and picking off the next person," Lowry said. "The last 1,000 meters, I was hanging on by a thread. Two people got me on the last straightaway, but other than that, I was moving up the entire race."
Springfield said Lowry did a good job of staying relaxed and focused, while at the same time maintaining a fast pace.
"He passed 30 people, and to do that when you're tired requires a lot of concentration and a lot of determination," Springfield said. "The last 1,000 meters was just a matter of being tough and finishing what he started, holding onto that spot."
Lowry said he fed off the energy of the race's large crowd — something he had never before experienced.
"The entire course was completely lined with spectators, and I've never seen that before," Lowry said. "Once I cracked the top 30, there was so much support from the spectators. It was really motivating."
Before the starting gun, Springfield said he told Lowry to be prepared for the race to feel different because of the competitive field.
"I reminded him that he was well-prepared and ready to do what he did because of the hard work that he put in," Springfield said.
Lowry's finish was the highest at the national championship in 23 years for a member of Brown men's cross country — in 1988, Greg Whiteley '89 finished 23rd for Bruno.
"I couldn't think of a better way to end my last season here," Lowry said.
