The men’s cross-country team is the 2011 Iowa Conference Champions after finishing in first at Luther last Saturday. The first-place finish gave the Duhawks their fourth championship in school history, their last being in 1997.

Senior Dan McDermott finished first for the Duhawks as has been the story all season; and finished second overall with a time of 25:22 just eight seconds behind the first-place runner.

“I knew I had to put myself in the top two if we wanted to win as a team,” said McDermott. “I just ran the race strategy coach put out for me and I was able to come in second. It would have been nice to win the race but I would much rather have a team title.”

The rest of the Duhawks were not too far behind McDermott. Sophomore Jerry Olp finished fifth overall with a time of 25:43 and junior Austin Steil finished 13th overall with a time of 25:57 to join McDermott and Olp on the All-Conference podium as the top 15 finishers.

First-years Ty Wittman and Rob Howe finished 16th and 17th overall with times of 26:10 and 26:13, respectively, to round out the scoring for the Duhawks and also win them the Championship over Luther by three places. Junior Chris Higgins finished 21st overall and sixth for Loras and first-year Steve Loran finished 23rd overall.

McDermott described the win as a “total team effort.”

“We knew we were the best team going in, and all we had to do was run to our potential and we would win. Everybody from top to bottom on our team ran great.”

The Duhawks came within four points of winning the conference championship last season, but Luther came away with the title on Loras’ home course. It seems it was almost scripted this year as the meet was run on Luther’s home course and Loras ousted Luther by three points.

“It was amazing to go on to Luther’s home course and take the Conference Championship,” said McDermott. “They have won in the last 5 years. After losing by 11 my freshman year and 4 junior year, it was a huge relief after we won the title.”

To go along with the Iowa Conference Championship, Coach Bob Schultz was also voted the 2011 Iowa Conference Men’s Cross Country Coach of the Year after the race, he is the second coach in school history to win the award.

The Duhawks will next compete in the Division III Central Region Championships on November 12th, in Waverly.

The women’s cross-country team also posted impressive results last Saturday, taking home a third-place overall finish at the Iowa Conference Championships. The team was led by two top-eight finishes by senior Genna Kinley and sophomore Mary Rector.

The Duhawks took third place by a 23-point margin, beating out Cornell, which came in seeded third in the conference. Kinley crossed the finish line first for the Duhawks en route to a 7th overall finish with a time of 23:01. Rector finished eighth overall with a time of 23:12 to receive All-Conference honors along with Kinley.

Junior Katie Flogel finished the race in 23:38 to place 16th overall. Rounding out the scoring for the Duhawks was senior Katie Hemesath (21st, 23:52) and sophomore Kellie Wagner (26th, 24:11).

“This was our goal from the beginning of the season,” said coach Bob Schultz. “We were seeded 4th coming in and finished 3rd with a pretty good margin over 4th place. The effort was terrific.”

The women now look towards competing at the Central Regional Championships on the 12th and Coach Schultz has stated that the team goal is to finish in the top eight. The girls finished 10th overall last year.

The men’s top seven cross-country runners all finished the 5-mile course in 27 minutes or faster this past weekend at the Pre-Nationals meet, en route to a 15th-place overall finish in a competitive field of 47 teams.

And a week before that, the Duhawks won the Dan Huston Invitational, hosted by Wartburg, beating No. 10-ranked Augustana by 9 points as well as outrunning the No. 20-ranked University of Wisconsin-Platteville.

The Pre-Nationals, which was hosted by the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, was no field for slouches either, as it included 12 of the nation’s top 35 teams.

“We were hoping for a top-15 finish and we finished 15th,” said Coach Bob Schultz. “We wanted to get a good feel for the NCAA course so we could come back in five weeks and race well on it.”

And race well they did. In the field of 400 runners, all seven varsity runners placed in the top 150.

Senior Dan McDermott led the way for the Duhawks, crossing the finish line in 25:51, good enough for a 34th-place individual finish among 400 runners. Sophomore Jerry Olp finished 65th overall with a time of 26:14.

Schultz also singled out the “great” performance of Loras’ No. 3 runner, first-year Ty Wittman, who crossed the finish line 12 seconds behind Olp to place 86th overall.

Rounding out the scoring for the Duhawks was first-year Steve Loran (26:40, 113th place) and junior Chris Higgins (26:54, 134th. Just seconds behind Higgins was first-year Rob Howe (26:56) and junior Austin Steil (27:00).

It was a respectable 15-place finish for the team, but Schultz believes the team has room to improve.

“It wasn’t our best race, yet we still placed well. That has been our theme this season. We are much better than we showed that day.”

Now the Duhawks will set their sights on the Iowa Conference Championships, which will take place this Saturday at Luther. Last year, the Duhawks were edged out for the conference title by a mere four points, as Luther won the race. Schultz expects the Duhawks to put it all on the line Saturday.

“It sounds simple, but if each guy can equal what he has already done this season, we should come out on top.”

The women’s cross-country team also has put together a string of good outings. The Duhawks finished fourth at the Dan Huston Invitational three weeks ago and carried that success to a first-place finish while hosting the Dr. Robert Tucker Invitational the following week. Loras edged out a good Augustana team by three points.

“Our women had a great performance,” Schultz said. “They went out smart and moved up really well to beat an Augustana team that beat us pretty easily the first meet of the season.”

The Duhawks placed all five of their scoring runners in the top 12, including four top-10 finishes. Overall, the top seven runners all placed within the top 26 in the field of 67.

Senior Genna Kinley continues to lead the team to the finish line, placing fourth individually with an 8K time of 23:33. Finishing seventh, eighth, and ninth, respectively, were juniors Mary Rector, Katie Flogel and Katie Hemesath.

Junior Kellie Wagner rounding out the scoring for the Duhawks with a 12th-place finish during what Schultz called “her best race ever as a Duhawk.” First-year Hallie Martin finished 21st and junior Maria Kalb finished 26th.

The women are hoping to improve on their fourth-place finish at the conference tournament last year.

“Our women have gotten better every race this season,” said Schultz. “That will carry over very well into the conference meet and I am really excited for them to see what they can do on Saturday.”

The men and women’s cross-country teams brought home impressive finishes on their annual trip to the highly competitive National Catholic Championships at Notre Dame last weekend.

The men’s team finished fourth overall among all non-Division I schools, which also was the best finish among all of the Division III schools at the competition.

The meet featured ranked Division I and Division II opponents, including Notre Dame and Bellarmine University.

Once again, senior Dan McDermott finished first for the Duhawks with a time of 25:30, good enough for 27th overall in the field of 250-plus runners (fourth overall among non-Division I schools).

Junior Austin Steil crossed the finish line next for the Duhawks, 20 seconds behind McDermott, finishing 21st among non-Division I competitors.

The next three runners for Loras to finish were first-year Rob Howe, junior Chris Higgins, and first-year Ty Wittman who all crossed within four seconds of one another to round out the Duhawks’ scoring.

Finishing sixth and seventh were first-years Steve Loran and Ryan Sheeran.

“I was very happy with the times and how our guys raced as a team,” said coach Bob Schultz. “I’m really proud of our whole team, the weather was ideal and the course was in great shape, which contributed to the very fast times.”

The men also finished in fourth place last year among non-Division I teams and nearly matched their score from a year ago, scoring 319 team points compared to last year’s 318.

McDermott also received Athlete of the Week accolades in the Iowa Conference with his 27th place finish out of 255 runners and the best time posted by a Division III entrant.

The team will travel to Minneapolis this weekend to compete at the Roy Griak Invitational and look to improve on their impressive finish from last year when they took 13th in what is annually one of the nation’s largest cross-country races.

The women also had a successful day at the Catholic Championships, placing 17th overall in the field of 33 Division I, II and III schools. They finished 7th overall among non-Division I schools.

Senior Genna Kinley led the way for the Duhawks for the second meet in a row, placing 51st overall and 14th among non-Division I competitors with a time of 18:53. Sophomore Mary Rector was the other Duhawk to finish in the top 100 in a field of more than 250 runners with a time of 19:14 to finish 86th overall.

Junior Katie Flogel, senior Katie Hemesath and first-year Belky Hilby finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively, for the Duhawks. Junior Maria Kalb and sophomore Kellie Wagner finished sixth and seventh.

“I was happy with our women’s times and how they raced as a team,” said Schultz. “Genna Kinley and Mary Rector both made the top 10 all-time list (for the 5K) at Loras. Katie Flogel and Kellie Wagner also had what could have been their best races as Duhawks.”

Schultz said that Kinley posted the seventh-best 5K time in Loras history, while Rector now has the ninth-best 5K time in school history.

Kinley also received Runner of the Week accolades in the Iowa Conference with her 54th-place finish overall out of 272 runners and placed 14th among non-Division I runners.

All the women saw a considerable amount of time shaved off their finish in comparison to last week’s meet.

“Our women got out better at the start and they also did a much better job racing as a team,” Schultz said. The women also will be in Minneapolis this weekend. Last year, they placed 13th out of 32 as a team dating back to last year. “We did well last year, and our hope is to have a good experience again this year.”

The men and women’s cross country teams left the starting line for the first time this season last Saturday while competing at the Luther All-American Invite in Decorah.

The men took 4th place overall and the women placed 10th in a meet that Coach Bob Schultz had described last week as something to just get everyone’s “feet wet.”

The men made a splash placing 4th place overall in a 20 team race that included some very tough competition.

“I was very happy that we finished as high as we did,” said Schultz. “Finishing behind 3 of the top 20 teams in the country and beating St. Thomas, a team that is ranked number 30 in the nation and beating Luther, the defending Iowa Conference Champions on their home course.”

Senior Dan McDermott led the charge for the Duhawks finishing 13th overall with a time of 21:04. Junior Austin Steil and first-year Steve Loran finished within four seconds of one another awarding them 21st and 27th overall, respectively.

Junior Chris Higgins (32nd) and first-year Rob Howe (34th) rounded out the scoring for the Duhawks with times of 21:29 and 21:32.

Also finishing in the top 7 for the Duhawks were first-years Ty Wittman (43rd) and Ryan Sheeran (45th). The Duhawks final tally added up to 127 to take a 4th place finish home, 14 points ahead of the 5th place finisher.

“I was really impressed with our freshmen (Loran, Howe, Wittman, and Sheeran) who all made our top 7 in their first collegiate race,” said Schultz. “We have a great group back so for them to do that in their first college cross country meet is very promising.”

The women took home a 10th place finish out of a field of 15, defeating conference rivals Coe and Dubuque.

“Our women got out very conservative, which is what we wanted to do,” said Schultz. “With the race being a bit shorter, at a 5K instead of a 6K, we did not move up as much as we will the second half of the season when we are running a 6K.”

Despite being a little out of their element due to the length of the course, the Duhawks posted some very good finishes at the site of the 2011 IIAC Championships course.

Senior Genna Kinley finished first overall for the Duhawks with a time of 20:17 good enough for a 29th overall finish in the field. Sophomore Mary Rector crossed the finish line 12 seconds later to finish 41st overall.

Finishing 6th and 7th overall for Loras were juniors Maria Kalb and first-year Hallie Martin.

“Genna Kinley ran a strong race, leading our team.  This was her first time running as number 1 for the Duhawks,” said Schultz. “Katie Flogel is much improved from last year and also a couple of our freshmen, Becky Hilby and Hallie Martin had really nice collegiate debuts.”

For the team to continually improve, Coach Schultz believes that the team needs to get out more aggressively and stay together a little longer each race.

On Saturday, the men and women will compete at the National Catholic Championships where the women brought home a 6th place overall finish last year in the 25 team field; and coach Schultz is confident that both teams can move up a place or two in the standings this year.

The men’s cross-country team will kick off the 2011 season this week in Decorah, Iowa at the Luther All-American invitational in the hope of starting off right towards another successful season.

The Duhawks return three of the top runners from last year’s season when they placed second overall in the Iowa Conference tournament. Senior Dan McDermott, juniors Austin Steil and Chris Higgins stack the squad’s resume as they each earned All-Conference and All-Region honors last season. McDermott also qualified individually for Nationals.

The Duhawks added 11 new runners to their roster and coach Bob Schultz expects big things out of the new crop of talent.

“We have quite a few runners who have already shown signs that they will be great college runners. Transfer Greg Adelman and first-years Rob Howe, Steve Loran, Ryan Sheeran and Ty Wittman have all looked very impressive,” said Shultz.

Along with McDermott the Duhawks will look for leadership from seniors Chris Miller, Ben Schmall and Ted Wittman.

Coach Schultz and the Duhawks are setting their sights on winning the Iowa Conference championship and qualifying as a team go to the National Championships this season.Shultz thinks the team need to accomplish some goals first.

“We need to improve on our pack runnin. We did a nice job last year, but we need to do an even better job this season,” said Shultz. “We also need to put the team success above each runners own; selfless running.”

As far as the Luther meet goes, Schultz is just hoping that his team gets their feet under them to be ready for a full season ahead. The course will play as the site of the Iowa Conference championships so the runners will be able to get a good feel for the course for when they visit it later this season with more on the line.

The women’s cross country team is also hoping to build and improve upon their fourth place finish last season in the Iowa Conference tournament and will start off the 2011 season in Decorah, Iowa this weekend. The Duhawks are returning all three of their top runners from last year that includes seniors Katie Hemesath and Genna Kinley and sophomore Mary Rector.

Hemesath will return as the lone all-conference and all-region runner. Coach Bob Schultz believes that Kinley and Rector are poised and ready to compete for those honors as well this fall. The Duhawks have only brought in four new runners this season but the team expects them to make a big impact.

“Becky Hilby and Hallie Martin are two new comers who have been able to run with our top returners early on,” said Schultz.

Kinley and junior Katie Flogel have been named team captains for this season and are expected to provide strong leadership to help the team reach their goals of finishing in the top three in the IIAC Conference tournament as well as a top 8 finish in the NCAA Central Region.

Coach Schultz believes if the team “runs the race” they know they can run at conference. They should be very successful in achieving their goals.

As far as the Luther invitational this weekend, the women, like the men, are just looking to “get their feet wet” and are looking to run a competitive meet but aren’t putting too much into the meet other than learning the course to prepare for the IIAC Championship.

The men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the NCAA Division III Central Region Championships Saturday, two weeks removed from the last time they faced competition.

“We actually enjoyed the two week layoff. We have a few of those during the season.  It allows us to get in some quality training since we don’t have to race,” said coach Bob Schultz.

In the men’s last meet they placed second overall in the Iowa Conference Championship and hoped some of that momentum would carry into the regional meet determined to qualify for nationals.

The men put up a score of 191 placing seventh overall out of 26 teams. Junior Dan McDermott placed ninth overall with a time 25:51 which qualified him individually to compete in the national meet. Sophomores Austin Steil and Chris Higgins placed 29^th and 35^th and first-year Jerry Olp who has regularly been leading the charge for the Duhawks this season placed 45^th overall. Rounding out the scoring for the Duhawks was senior Tom Henders placing 73^rd overall.

The men’s seventh place finish was not enough to qualify for nationals as only five teams from each region are selected to compete in the national meet.

“Dan McDermott ran the race of his life and is being rewarded with a trip to the National Championships,” said Schultz.  “We had four other guys run as well as we expected them to.  We had one guy get a bad cramp and another guy got his appendix out 10 days before the race, so they were both back from where we had hoped.”

The men have a bright future ahead as their top four finishers of this meet: McDermott, Steil, Higgins, and Olp will all return next season to compete for the Duhawks.

“I believe this group has what it takes in 2011 to be the greatest men’s cross country team in Loras history,” said Schultz.

The women entered the Central Region meet after placing fourth two weeks ago in the Iowa Conference Championships and looked to improve on their performance in the National meet. The women tallied up a score of 314, finishing behind the ninth place team St. Benedict.

Junior Katie Hemesath crossed the finish line first for the Duhawks as it has been all season, placing 20^th overall with a time of 22:55, and also a personal best for her. Finishing within 15 seconds of each other was senior Tara Kilburg  who placed 59^th, junior Genna Kinley who finished 64^th and first-year Mary Rector who finished 72^nd. Closing out the scoring for the Duhawks was senior Meghan Wolett who placed 99^th overall.

“Our women’s goal going into the meet was top 10 and beat Central.  They did that, so I am proud of them too,” said Schultz.

The women will lose six seniors at the end of this year but have a strong group of young runners and several with varsity experience.

“We graduate a couple key girls in Tara Kilburg and Meg Wolett, but we return five from regionals,” said Schultz.  “We also have some other young girls who were just outside our top seven or who were injured that we are counting on to make our varsity line up next year.  I expect our women’s team to be even stronger next year with a top three finish at conference and making a run for a top five finish in the region.”

The men and women’s cross-country teams rode the momentum train from first-place finishes in their previous race and posted impressive results at the Iowa Conference Championships last Saturday.
After successfully completing a rare perfect score last week at their only home meet of the season, the Duhawks were ready to compete at the conference showdown hosted by the University of Dubuque.
“I really wasn’t sure what to expect because the conference has been so balanced this year,” Coach Bob Schultz said. “I knew if our guys ran well, they had a shot and they proved that.”
The men finished as the runner-up in the conference, coming within 4 points of capturing the title. The Duhawks gave it their all, placing three runners in the top 10 and four in the top 15.
First-year Jerry Olp led the charge for the Duhawks, placing fourth overall with a time of 26:14. Sophomore Austin Steil and junior Dan McDermott ran neck-and-neck throughout the race finishing within 2 seconds of each other, Steil placing ninth overall and McDermott finishing 10th. Rounding out the scoring for the Duhawks was sophomore Chris Higgins and junior Ted Wittman, who placed 14th and 24th, respectively.
Olp, Steil, McDermott and Higgins earned All Iowa Conference honors by placing in the top 15.
“We had a lot of really good individual performances. Jerry Olp finished fourth as a freshman behind three seniors,” Schultz said. “Also, Austin Steil and Dan McDermott moved up a lot from last years’ conference meet. Finally, I was proud of Chris Higgins for stepping up and earning All-Conference,” said Schultz.
The men were barely edged by Luther, which claimed the title with a score of 57.
“We would have liked to come away with a conference win. It’s always tough losing by only 4 points,” said McDermott.
A second-place finish should prove to be a confidence-builder heading into the Division III Central Regional.
“Similar to Conference, I sincerely believe our guys have what it takes to win if they run well. We could also finish 10th. It’s that tight,” said Schultz. “Like conference, it should be a fun meet. Our hope is to qualify for the National Championships.”
The women also headed into the conference meet coming off a strong first-place finish at the home meet a few weeks ago. The women placed fourth overall well.
“I really expected our women to easily get third,” Schultz said. “Wartburg and Luther rank among the top 25 in the nation, but I know we are the third-best team in the conference. We just didn’t show it.”
Junior Katie Hemesath, who has led the Duhawks in every meet this season, once again came home with the highest finish for Loras, passing the finish line with a time of 23:45 for a 13th- place finish and good enough to earn All-Conference honors.
“The women’s meet was a little disappointing. We needed to see some of our top girls step it up and we didn’t,” said Schultz. “We’ve been flat at conference the last couple years, so I have to figure something out.”
The next Duhawk to cross the finish line was senior Tara Kilburg, who placed 22nd. Finishing within 13 seconds of each other were junior Genna Kinley, who was 25th; first-year Mary Rector, who was 26th; and senior Meghan Wolett, who finished in 30th to complete varsity scoring for the women.
“I was proud of all of our girls running a tough race against some competitive teams,” Kinley said. “In the end, we were only 8 points out of third place, and our junior-varsity women also ran well, placing fourth out of nine teams. Some of our seniors, especially on the JV side, did a great job running together and being great leaders out there.”
The women hope to improve on their performances when they compete at the Division III Central Regional.
“Our goal at the beginning of the year was to surprise teams at Regionals,” Schultz added. “We have nothing to lose at this point. I hope our women are aggressive and run with some pride to end the season on a high note.”

The Cross Country teams displayed their dominance at their home meet last week; both men and women blowing away their competition for first place finishes.

Last Friday was the 26^th annual Dr. Robert Tucker Invitational, the only home cross country meet of the season for Loras. The invite hosted five men’s teams and six women’s teams.

The Men’s team came into this meet one week after posting a seventh place finish at Wartburg College, a meet that hosted 25 teams.

“The competition was high at Wartburg since this was a Pre-National meet.  Many of the top teams around the country wanted to run on this course to get a feel for it prior to the end of season National Championships,” said Head Coach Bob Schultz.

The Duhawks responded to their home field advantage by posting the very rare perfect score.  The men posted a perfect score of 15 by sweeping the first five finishes and also placing eight runners in the top nine.

Junior Dan McDermott led the way for the Duhawks edging teammate Jerry Olp by 14 seconds to take the top spot. Following McDermott and Olp were: sophomores Austin Steil and Chris Higgins who finished third and fourth respectively, and senior Tom Henders who finished fifth. Senior Ryan Engleman finished sixth overall, and sophomore Ted Wittman and senior Dain Leytem finished eighth and ninth respectively.

“In my 20 years of coaching, I’ve never had a team score a perfect 15. It was a lot of fun to see, especially at home,” said Schultz. “This was the first collegiate win for Dan McDermott and Tom Henders ran his best college cross country race ever.”

The Women’s team came away from the home meet with an equally impressive performance by also finishing first overall beating Augustana College by 23 points. As it has been a similar story this year, the Duhawks were once again driven by the strong performance of junior Katie Hemesath who finished  third overall. Including Hemesath, the Duhawks had four runners finish under the 24 minute mark for the meet. Junior Genna Kinley finished sixth, senior Tara Kilburg eighth, and first-year Mary Rector ninth.

“I was happy with how we ran as a team, top to bottom.  We had a lot of PR’s due to a home course, a lighter week of training and great weather,” said Schultz. “It was great to see our women win at home again.”

The Men and Women do not run again until Oct. 30, at the Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (IIAC) Championships hosted by the University of Dubuque.

“We’d like to have the Duhawk Nation take that place over and cheer our teams on to victory.  The more Duhawks we get out there, the better our teams will do,” said Schultz.

The men’s and women’s cross-country teams took on their toughest challenges so far this season, and both teams again posted impressive results.
The Duhawks traveled to the University of Minnesota for the 25th Annual Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday. The invitational drew thousands of competitors that competed in several races running throughout the day. The 30-team division for the men and the 32-team division for the women was the biggest challenge yet for the Loras runners.
“This was the best competition we’ve faced all year,” said Coach Bob Schultz
The previous weekend, the men were the top Division III team at the National Catholic Invitational hosted by Notre Dame. First-year Jerry Olp was named the Iowa Conference Runner of the Week. Olp blazed to a 10th-place finish among the more than 200 non-Division I runners at the Notre Dame meet. He finishing the 8K course with an impressive time of 26:14.
Olp and his teammates carried that momentum to Minnesota on Saturday, as the team placed seventh in the 30-team field.
“The six teams that beat our men’s team are all ranked among the top 30 in the country. We also beat three regionally ranked teams from the Central region on the men’s side, including conference foes Wartburg and Coe,” said Schultz.
Olp paced the Duhawks with his 24th-place finish among more than 300 runners in the race. He completed the 8-kilometer course with a time of 26:38.
Junior Dan McDermott had an equally impressive performance, finishing just four seconds behind Olp. Sophomore Chris Higgins crossed the line in 27:08, junior Ted Wittman clocked a 27:19 and senior Ryan Engelman covered the distance in 27:31. They all placed in the top 70.
“We finished close to some nationally ranked teams and we were the top-finishing team out of our conference,” McDermott said. “To have early success like we are having this season is promising for the meets that count.”
The women’s field featured 32 teams and a whopping 453 competitors in the 6K race. As a team, the Duhawks finished 13th.
“I was happy with our women’s results,” said Schultz. “We ran against seven nationally ranked teams and beat one team that is regionally ranked.”
The women were led by junior Katie Hemesath, who finished 46th overall with a time of 24:07. Junior Genna Kinley finished with a time of 24:26, first-year Mary Rector finished in 24:32, and senior Tara Kilburg crossed the finish line next at 24:47 for the Duhawks, placing 63rd, 66th and 76th, respectively.

The cross-country teams took their 13-day layoff in stride as they prepared to face Division I talent last weekend at Notre Dame. The men finished fourth and women finished sixth among dozens of teams.

The men and women last competed on Sept. 3, allowing about two weeks of training and preparation for the National Catholic Invitational last Friday, in South Bend. Both teams had the extra week to train and reflect on their impressive top-five performances from their previous meet.

“Having last weekend off allowed us to get in a really good week of training while a lot of other teams were resting up for a race,” said coach Bob Schultz.

The extra week of training proved to be helpful in preparation for the 35-team invitational that hosted schools from NCAA Division I, II and III, in addition to the NAIA (National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics).

“It is always a good level of competition, as there are about a dozen NCAA Division I schools and a few are traditionally nationally ranked,” said Schultz. “Overall, both teams performed well.”

The men posted their second straight top-five finish of the season last weekend, placing fourth in the non-division I category. Overall, they placed 11th in the 35-team field that included a total of 285 runners.

“Our men were the top-finishing (Division III) school at the meet,” said Schultz.

Once again, it was first-year Jerry Olp leading the way for the men’s squad with a 10th-place finish in the non-Division I group that had a total of 204 runners. 

According to Schultz, Olp’s finish was the best any Loras runner has placed at this particular meet in his time here as coach, and Schultz noted that Olp is a first-year this is only his second collegiate race. Olp finished the course with a time of 26:14 and was followed closely behind by his teammates, junior Dan McDermott and sophomores Austin Steil and Chris Higgins who finished with times of 26:31, 26:42, and 26:59 respectively.

“We were all excited to see that we had everyone under 27:50 and knowing that we had our top 5 under 27:20 when last year our top runner finished at 27:15,” said Olp. “Our results this past weekend surpassed all of our expectations.”

There was a similar story for the women’s team as junior Katie Hemesath led the way for the Duhawks once again. Hemesath finished the course with a time of 19:27 to finish 73rd overall out of 280 runners.

“Katie ran well, but we know she is going to do a lot better,” said Schultz.

Finishing next for the women was senior Tara Kilburg with a time of 19:44 and junior Genna Kinley with a time of 19:52. First-year Mary Rector crossed the finished line next at a time of 20:00 even. The Duhawk women’s joint effort placed sixth in the non-division I category and 15th overall in the 35-team field.

“Getting sixth out of 25 Division II and III teams is pretty darn good for our young team,” said Kinley. “Big races like Notre Dame help us work on sticking with our teammates for as much of the race as possible.”

Which Kinley believes was vital to the team’s success on Friday.

“Notre Dame cross-country coach Joe Piane is a Loras alum and it is always great seeing him at this meet,” said Schultz. “He always gets excited to see the Duhawks come to South Bend.”