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.”
