As he made his way into the muddy final stretch of Saturday’s 10k race, senior Maksim Korolev found himself sitting comfortably in third place. First place was likely out of reach, but with his tried-and-true finishing kick at his disposal, the second-place runner was within striking distance.

For supporters of the Harvard cross country team, this was a remarkably familiar scene. In each of the squad’s last three meets, the veteran from Harrisonville, Mo. had captured either first or second place.

But this race was different.

It was the final stretch of the NCAA Championships, and Korolev was chasing the defending national champion, Kennedy Kithuka of Texas Tech. The gap between Korolev and Kithuka was shrinking with each stride as the duo approached the finish line, with the clock ticking up to 30 minutes.

In the end, Korolev simply ran out of room to catch the defending national champion, falling just 0.4 seconds short of being the national runner-up.

Despite the half-second loss, Korolev etched his name in the record books, becoming the first runner in Harvard history to finish in the top three places at Nationals. His performance marked the highest Ivy finish on the men’s side since 1945, and just the third time that a men’s Ancient Eight competitor cracked the top three.

Korolev covered the muddy 10k course in Terre Haute, Ind. in 29:59.5—roughly 18 seconds behind Oregon freshman Edward Cheserek, who put on a dominant display to upset the heavily-favored Kithuka.

The Crimson men’s team, which qualified for Nationals for the first time since 1979, racked up 678 team points to take home 30th place of the 31 teams competing. Behind the standout performance from Korolev, Harvard’s remaining runners found themselves in the bottom half of the field.

Junior Will Geiken was the team’s second runner, earning 182nd place. Sophomore Tom Purnell (198th), junior Adam Cotton (208th), and senior Kurt Ruegg (227th) rounded out the scoring runners for the Crimson men.

“It was a great experience for those guys,” Harvard coach Jason Saretsky said. “Obviously, the conditions were less than ideal, and it’s unlike any other race we’ve been to.... But I thought we gained a lot of experience from it, and there’s a real hunger to get back [to Nationals] and cement this program as a national-caliber program.”

After battling a leg injury for the past month, co-captain James Leakos, who kicked off the year by topping Korolev to win the Harvard-Yale meet, competed in the race but could not to overcome the injury.

Leakos was able to cross the finish line, but he did so in an uncharacteristically slow 36:39.7.

“The leg wasn’t cooperative, and he really struggled,” Saretsky said. “But I was incredibly proud of him for finishing.”

In the first 3000 meters of the race, Korolev positioned himself in the lead pack that consisted of about 10 runners. Due to the harsh racing conditions, the veteran tried to stick with the group and let the other competitors battle the wind for him. But his 6’4” frame didn’t do him any favors.

“It was incredibly muddy, windy, and cold out there, and I think that got to a lot of people,” Korolev said. “I remember thinking at one point, ‘Wow, I can see over all of these guys,’ but I still tried to draft.”