Twin brothers Grant, Aidan Matthai lead UW-La Crosse men’s cross country to National Championship

Twin brothers helped the UW-La Crosse men’s cross country team win it all, over the weekend.

Grant Matthai finished third and Aidan Matthai was fifth in leading the Eagles to a Division III National Championship.

It’s the second time in UW-L history two runners placed in the Top 5. In 1997, Brett Altergott won the national title with Brad Wilson finishing fourth.

This was UW-L’s fourth National Title in school history. They also won in 2005, 2001 and 1996. The Eagles have been to the championships 37 times. In 16 of those, the Eagles have finished in the Top 3. UW-L took second in 2017 and 2023 and third in 2013, 2014 and 2018.

Grant Matthai finished Saturday’s 8,000-meter course in 24 minutes, 4.4 seconds, while Aidan Matthai was just seconds behind (24:11.8).

Along with the Matthais, two others from UW-L earned All-American honors finishing in the Top 20: Joey Sullivan was 16th (24:26.7) and Jayden Zywicki took 20th (24:31.6).

It was all four runners’ first-ever All-American honors, which is the first time a UW-L team had that many.

From last year to this season, Grant Matthai improved his placement by 60 spots — he was 63rd in 2023. Aidan Matthai finished 76th last year.

UW-Whitewater’s Christian Patzka won the individual national title (24:01.6).