The cross country season is winding down to the part that means the most for the team’s success.

The men’s and women’s teams went into this weekend hoping to come out with a successful run in Waverly at Wartburg College, but it did not go as planned for the teams.

“The races at Waverly were disappointing. They didn’t go how we had hoped at all,” coach Bob Schultz said.

But Schultz used philosophy to help cope with the loss.

“I don’t worry about anything in cross country. As the good Lord said, worrying will not add a single day to your life, so why worry,” he said.

This was the second time the Cross country teams have raced at Wartburg this season. The first time was back in early October when the Men’s team took eighth place in the race and the Women’s team took sixth place.

The race that took place this weekend at Wartburg for the teams allowed Schultz to see the number of the strides his runners have made over the season.

“At first I was upset (when I looked at what our runners did the second time at Wartburg) because many of our athletes were being slower than three weeks ago on the same course. Half of the IIAC Schools ran at the Wartburg meet, so when I compared all of the runners times to that meet and not just the Loras runners, I was actually pleased to see that our men dropped the least and our women dropped the 2nd least, so it was the conditions and many of our runners actually handled the cold and wind much better than most,” he said.

There were many runners that stood out from the rest this weekend, such as Tara Kilburg, who came in fourteenth overall and finished the race in under 24 minutes, as well as picked up the lone All-Iowa Conference performer for Loras.

“I was proud that Tara Kilburg earned All-Conference. Also, I was proud of our men and women who actually ran season personal records despite the conditions, considering the vast majority of the runners in the meet got slower,” Schultz said. “They were Kilburg, Maria Kalb and Heather Heffernen for the women and Tyler Meyer and Dan McDermott for the men.”

The top seven runners for both teams will be the same that go to the Central Regional, which will take place at Grinnell College on Nov. 14. The preparations that the team will be going through up until race day will be speed work, laying off mileage, and just getting everyone ready for the Regional meet.

The result of the teams at the Regional meet determines whether or not they will be able to move on to the ultimate goal, which is the NCAA National Championships.

“Both of our teams need to finish in the top 5 to have a chance to go to Nationals,” Schultz said. “Our women have a shot at the top 5. We have surprised teams the past few years with sixth place finishes just a few points from qualifying despite being ranked much lower or not at all. Our men are not ranked, so I would like to see them finish in the top 10, surprise some people and end the season on a high note.”

An advantage that might benefit the Duhawk teams in the Regional meet is that they will be racing at Grinnell College, where they ran their first race of the season for the Les Duke invitational. The men took ninth place in that race and the women took sixth place. Schultz likes how it’s set up.

“We run there on purpose so our athletes know the course and are comfortable on it when we get to the big meet at the end of the season,” he said.