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HANOVER, Ind. -- Nazareth's Nick Stenuf saved his best race for last Saturday as the graduate student earned All-American honors at the NCAA Division III Cross Country Championships at Hanover College.

Stenuf finished in 19th place overall in a field of 278 runners in the 8,000-meter race to become Nazareth's first cross country All-American. He posted his fastest time ever for that distance with a school-record clocking of 24 minutes, 49.49 seconds. Hamilton's Peter Kosgei won the race with a time of 24:22, a full 10 seconds ahead of his closest pursuer. Cortland State, with three runners in the top 15, won the team title.

"I tried to stay close to the Cortland runners because I knew they would be near the front," said Stenuf. "I wanted to run the first four miles as fast as I could and then hang on from there."

The top 35 finishers are declared All-Americans by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

"There were so many schools here from New York so I had a lot of people cheering me on," Stenuf said. "It felt like a home meet."

Saturday's event was the last of Stenuf's decorated Nazareth running career. He is a four-time track and field All-American in the 800-meter run, earning that honor twice indoors and twice outdoors. He used up his track eligibility last spring. He didn't begin running cross country until 2006.

Stenuf, of East Syracuse, N.Y. and a graduate of East Syracuse-Minoa, also reached the cross country national meet in 2007 in Minnesota and finished 38th, just missing All-America honors.