While Jason Bialka’s 99th place finish Monday in the NCAA cross country championships didn’t earn him All-American honors, the senior ended his career with Eastern’s second-best national performance.

Bialka finished 99th out of 244 runners on the Furman University course, running the 10,000-meter course in 31:00.

“My legs felt really tired. I just don’t know what it was,” Bialka said.

“It was definitely something physical. It definitely wasn’t my best day.”

Bialka went out among the first 50 runners on the course, but the first mile went out fast, leaving many competitors tired too early.

“The first mile was so fast that everyone was suffering,” head coach John McInerney said. “It’s hard – regionals and prenationals wasn’t anything like it.”

As Bialka moved past the 5,000-meter marker, McInerney felt he knew he wasn’t having the race he wanted to run.

“I was real proud of the way he hung in and finished the race,” McInerney said.

“By the 5K mark, he knew he wasn’t having his best race. He could have hung back and not killed himself, but he decided to battle and fight. You have to be real pleased to finish in the top 100.”

The first place finish came from Eastern Michigan’s Boaz Chboiywo in a time of 28:47, but the first All-American finisher was Colorado’s Jorge Torres in 29:06. Colorado took first-place team honors with three runners in the top 20 for 90 points.

Stanford finished second with 91 points. Arkansas, Northern Arizona and Wisconsin rounded out the top five teams.

“Nationals is one of those races that if you ran it all over again, no one would have the same finish,” Bialka said. “Everyone has their day.

“I finished 99, but I could still see 50th.”

While Bialka’s career ended at Eastern, he now turns his attention to student teaching in the spring.

“It was disappointing to end thinking it was my last race in an Eastern uniform,” Bialka said. “I never achieved my ultimate goal of All-American.”

But Bialka will not be without competition soon, racing Dec. 1 for the Invaders, a professional running club out of Indianapolis.

“He’s got a lot of good running left in him still,” McInerney said.