Lincoln, Neb. -- The cross country runners of the American Rivers Conference crossed the Missouri River into Nebraska for the 2018 conference championships. Nebraska Wesleyan’s women won the team title for the third-straight year, and Wartburg’s men took the first-place trophy for the first time since 2005. The individual winners were Wartburg’s Carina Collet and Dubuque’s Alec Bass. The races were run on a gorgeous day with temps in the high-50s / low 60s.
MEN'S RESULTS | WOMEN'S RESULTS
Collet controlled the women’s race for most of the 6,000 meters. Her winning time of 22 minutes, 25.2 seconds was 27 seconds clear of second-place Ellie Beiermann of NWU (22:52.2). But the Prairie Wolves also had the fifth-, eighth-, 15th- and 17th-place runners to finish with 47 points. That was four points lower than second-place Wartburg. Loras was third with 83 points, followed by Luther with 90.
Beiermann’s teammates
-- Hannah Hegemann (23:10.0)
, Hannah Awtry (23:51.5)
, Madi Bahe (24:33.1)
and Leah Treffer (24:53.5)
-- made it happen for NWU, which has been a member of the conference for three years and has three women’s cross country trophies. The NWU women who finished in the top 15 were all-conference medalists.
Wartburg’s Cassidy Christopher was the next of the Knights’ all-conference runners. Her 23:28.2 time was good for seventh. Anna Hertz (24:22.2) was 12th, while Alex Childs-Smith (24:25.6) was 13th.
Kassie Rosenbum of Loras with the third-place finisher (22:58.8) and an all-conference performer along with teammate
Audrey Miller (11tn place, 24:17.7)
. Central had three all-conference finishers.
Miranda Kruiswyk was fourth in 23:01.0 with
Sheridan LaCoste (24:17.2) and
Lauren Moll (24:17.4) in ninth and 10th, respectively. Luther’s
Amelia Morrow was the top finisher for the Norse and sixth overall (23:20.4); she and teammate
Heather Hostager (14th, 24:30.1) earned all-conference.
Bass, who is one of the most decorated track & field / cross country athletes in conference history, crossed the 8,000-meter finish line first in 26:03.1. His margin of victory was a slim five seconds better than Wartburg’s
Sam Pinkowski (26:07.8).
Pinkowski’s teammates --
Joe Freiburger (4th, 26:15.7),
Dalton Martin (7th, 26:42.1),
Caleb Appleton (8th, 26:47.0), and
Liam Conroy (11th, 27:01.0) -- helped the Knights to a very skinny score of 32 points. That was 23 points ahead of second-place Loras. Nebraska Wesleyan was third with 91 points, followed by Luther in fourth with 124. Two Wartburg non-scorers also earned all-conference as
Casey Roberts (13th, 27:06.1) and
Matt Heinzman (15th, 27:09.9) completed a dominant day for the Orange and Black.
The host school placed two runners on the all-conference list. NWU’s Andy Vasquez was third in 26:14.3 with Clay Simpson fifth in 26:21.6. Loras had three all-conference runners. Cole Conklin-Little finished ninth with a time of 26:53.3 and Patrick Wolak was 10th with a time of 26:57.8. The third Loras all-conference harrier was Preston Kauder (12th, 27:02.8).
Simpson and Luther placed one runner each in the top 15. The Storm’s
Trey Thompson had a great day with a sixth-place time of 26:33.6. The Norse’s
Tom Altier excelled with a 14th-place finish (27:09.3).
Next up for the A-R-C teams in the NCAA Central Region meet two weeks from today on the Max Championship Cross Country Course at Wartburg College. Team and individual berths in the NCAA national championships, which will take place in Oshkosh, Wis. on November 17th.
