Pella, Iowa -- A fall athletics season like no other finished today with Wartburg sweeps in the American Rivers Conference cross country championships. Both teams won comfortably behind individual wins by
Aubrie Fisher in the women's race and
Joe Freiburger in the men's race. The team titles were the second in a row for the women and the third-straight for the men.
With all five runners in the top 10, Wartburg's team score on the women's side was 24 points. There was a tremendous battle for second and third place as Loras totaled 90 points, just three ahead of third-place Nebraska Wesleyan. The Wartburg men were equally dominant with a team score of 27. That easily outdistanced second-place Loras (75) and third-place Simpson (86).
Fisher covered the 6,000-meter course in 21 minutes, 56.85 seconds. She pulled away from
Kassie Rosenbum of Loras, who crossed in second place in a time of 22:03.73. Fisher's teammates weren't far behind.
Carina Collet, the two-time defending champion, was third in a time of 22:25.39.
Shaelyn Hostager took fifth place (23:10.62),
Lexi Brown was seventh (23:18.85), and
Janelle Baeskens was eight (23:35.66) to close out the top-five scorers for the Knights.
Freiburger ran 8,000 meters in a time of 25:38.54 for his second-straight individual win at the conference championship. It also completed an undefeated season for Freiburger, who swept individual championships at the regular-season conference triangular meets. He outlasted teammate
Dalton Martin's second-place time of 25:43.18. The next three Wartburg finishers were the 7-8-9 scorers --
Christopher Collet (26:11.68),
Morgan Shirley-Fairbairn (26:16.16), and
Ali Ali (26:20.19).
Head coach
Ryan Chapman and assistant
Phil Spitzer were voted Coaching Staff of the Year for the women and men. The women's award was Chapman's second, while the men's honor is his third in a row.
Finishing in the top 15 resulted in all-conference honors. Nebraska Wesleyan's
Leah Treffer was fourth while teammates
Madi Bahe (sixth) and
Camryn Larsen (13th) earned medals. Buena Vista's
Qiana Roderick finished ninth. Coe's
Kandice Kittinger was 10th. Wartburg's
Natalie Paulson (11th) and
Trinity Borland (12th) were all-conference. Luther's
Heather Hostager was the 14th-place finisher and Central's
Caroline McMartin was 15th.
All-conference honors in the men's race went to
Evan Jamrozy (third) and
Will Yasdick (15th). Simpson's
Spencer Moon was fourth with teammates
Harry Dudley (10th) and
Eric Baldus (12th) also in all-conference spots.
Ian Kelly from Luther earned a medal with his fifth-place finish. Nebraska Wesleyan's
Norbert Weijenberg was just behind Kelly in sixth place. Central's
Will DeHaan finished 11th. The final two all-conference positions went to Dubuque's
Mark Biechler (13th) and
Tyler Cernohous (14th).
With NCAA fall championships canceled, today's meet was the final cross country competition of 2020.
