Thirty teams charged off the starting line vying to win the Mideast Region Cross Country Championship and earn an automatic bid to the national championship the next weekend. One of these runners, St. Lawrence’s Nicholas Lyndaker ’26 surged to the front with teammate Michael Skutt ’24 attempting to lead the team to the national championship. However, the SLU men’s cross-country team was unable to qualify, with Lyndaker and Skutt only making the national championship as individuals.   

“It’s amazing,” said Lyndaker on qualifying for the national championship. “It’s a whole different kind of race. The best from around the nation all in one spot showing what they’ve been training for nonstop since May,” he said. “I was fortunate to make it last year too and learned a lot,” expressed Lyndaker, who is hoping to build upon his experience.   

Lyndaker’s success as a sophomore in college isn’t something out of the blue but rather part of his journey with running. “Ever since I started running, it’s been a dream to make it to the big stage just like my parents,” said Lyndaker. Both of Lyndaker’s parents, Deb and Jeff Lyndaker, ran at SLU and were All-Americans in cross country.   

While Lyndaker looks to compete on the same level as his parents, it has been important to Deb Lyndaker that her son runs for his own reasons. “We want him to have his own moments and success and not have it pushed upon him,” she expressed. Lyndaker went on to say college runners have to give up a lot to be competitive. “Recognizing that and making sure it was his choice was important to us,” said Deb Lyndaker.   

Watching her son progress through the sport has been a lot of fun for Deb Lyndaker. “He’s on year four of constant improvement without plateaus or valleys, which has been kind of shocking to us,” she said. Nicholas Lyndaker was able to go to some larger meets during his senior year of high school and gained a lot of racing experience. “We felt we invested in the experience and hoped he would gain some confidence out of it,” said Deb Lyndaker.   

The teams and Nicholas Lyndaker’s success this season isn’t a surprise to Fred LaVack, who is a fan of SLU men’s and women’s cross country. “They are like grandkids to me,” said LaVack, “If the kids believe in the system and follow the system and can stay healthy, good things happen at the end of the season,” he said. LaVack felt Lyndaker had a great race at regionals and was impressed to see him and the rest of the team finishing with a smile on their face. According to LaVack, last week’s regional meet was “truly one of the top four or five Saints XC team memories was that race how everybody came together.”  

Even without the whole team traveling to nationals, the support of the whole team is important for Lyndaker. “The atmosphere of it (the national meet), people are everywhere screaming as loud as possible to cheer you on, there’s really nothing like it,” said Nicholas Lyndaker.