Jack Metz
The cross-country men’s and women’s teams continued making good progress with their top-five finishes in Division 2 at the National Catholic Cross Country Invitational at Notre Dame.
The women’s team, which won the Division 2 title last year, finished third among 24 teams. Bellarmine and Franciscan universities were the only two small-college teams to beat the Loras women, which was paced by several strong runs in the 3.1-mile race.
Junior Tara Kilburg and senior Hannah Weiss finished 39th and 40th, respectively, among 260 small- and big-college runners who finished the race. Kilburg cross the line in 19 minutes, 29 seconds; and Weiss was one second behind her. Senior Erica Stevens and junior Meghan Wolett nearly eclipsed the 20-minute mark to finish in 64th and 67th places, respectively.
The men finished in fifth place among 25 teams in Division 2. It finished behind Bellarmine University, Wheeling Jesuit University, Sienna Heights University and Marian University in the standings.
Coach Bob Schultz said the men had strong runs by four of their top runners on the 5-mile course. The Duhawks were led by junior Dain Leytem, who crossed the line with a time of 27 minutes, 16 seconds. Leytem finished 56th among 216 small- and big-college runners who finished the race. Junior Mike Higgins and senior Tyler Meyer both finished within four seconds of Leytem. First-year Austin Steil finished his second collegiate race just 10 seconds behind Higgins and Meyer.
Schultz was excited with the results.
“I was very happy with both teams’ results. Much better than our first meet. I feel much better about our teams reaching their goals at the end of the season based on their performance at Notre Dame,” he said.
The runners will travel to Augustana College this weekend to compete in the Brisman-Lundeen Invitational. Schultz has different plans for the weekend race ahead to let the teams’ younger runners get some experience.
“We are resting our varsity upperclassman to give some other athletes a chance to score on our top seven and to give the freshmen an extra race at the college distance,” Schultz added. “It’s a learning experience on a very fast course.”
