SPARTANBURG, SC - Utica University men's cross country runner Bennett Melita (Johnstown, NY/Fonda-Fultonville) traveled to Spartanburg, South Carolina to compete in the 2025 NCAA Division III National Championship race. Melita, running in his second national championship, placed 194th overall. He crossed the finish line after 25:58.7 to complete the race and the 2025 cross country season.

Melita, a junior, turned in a historic season on his way to his second-straight national championship appearance. In the season-opening event, Bennett placed 1st overall at the SUNY Poly Short Course Invitational, breaking a decade-old course record in the process. Where Melita truly excelled was in the back half of the season. He placed 1st overall in back-to-back events, including the Empire 8 Championship. At the Niagara Regional, he placed 5th overall to earn an at-large bid and helped secure his team's program-record 6th-place finish at the event. Melita was named both the Empire 8 Runner of the Week multiple times and is likely to receive recognition when all-conference teams and awards are announced.

University of Wisconsin-La Crosse is the 2025 DIII National Champions, placing runners at 3rd, 4th, 5th, 13th, and 57th overall. A Johns Hopkins University senior, Emmanuel Leblond, took the individual championship, completing the race in 23:35.0. 

The event marks the end of the 2025 NCAA cross country season. Melita, alongside many other cross country teammates, will now shift their focus to the track and field season, with competition beginning in early December. Utica cross country will return to action in fall 2026.