St. Lawrence University senior Nordic skier Austin Meng recorded a 21st place finish in the men's 10k freestyle race at the 2015 NCAA Championships at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, NY on Wednesday.

Meng, who was the fifth competitor out of the starting gate, had a very impressive race and moved up the field to post his best career NCAA finish. The Truckee, CA native, who raced his home course in 27:02.2 had a previous career-best showing of 30th place at the 2013 NCAA Championships in the 10k Classic. Competitors navigated the early rolling hills of Mt. Van Hoevenberg, followed by a steep climb before the downhill finish on the fast course.

"It was a great day all around," said St. Lawrence assistant Nordic coach Adam Terko '12. "Austin's training has given him consistency all season and he was able to continue that strong trend and even pick it up a notch today to grab his best NCAA finish by nearly 10 places."

Meng narrowly missed out on the top-20, as Etienne Richard from the University of Anchorage Alaska narrowly held him off. His finish was the best by a St. Lawrence men's Nordic skier since Ben Knowles was 13th in the 20k free at the 2010 championships.

Dartmouth's Patrick Caldwell won the national championship in the men's race with a time of 25:09.1, edging out Denver's Moritz Madlener. Colorado's Rune Oedegaard was third, while teammate Mads Stroem and Montana State's Forrest Mahlen rounded out the top-5. The University of Utah's Veronika Mayerhofer earned the women's national championship in the 5k freestyle.

The NCAA Championships will continue tomorrow, Thursday, March 12 when the alpine events get underway with the giant slalom at 9:00am. Meng and the Nordic competitors return to action on Friday, March 13th at 10:00am in the classic race.