“Hands down, the best race of the season,” said Coach Stiles about this weekend’s University Athletic Association (UAA) Conference Championship cross county meet in Chicago.
Friday morning, the men’s and women’s cross country teams departed for a five hour bus ride to compete on the windy Lake Michigan lake front where both the men and women out-competed all other teams, each taking first place with 43 points. “Both teams won easily,” said Stiles. It was the first year in the University’s history that both the men’s and women’s squads won the conference title in cross country.
The men’s team defeated the host, second-place University of Chicago, by twenty six points. Three of the men were named to the first-all-UAA conference team: seniors Matt Hoelle and Darius Viet and sophomore Brennan Bonner. Sohpomore Greg Reindl was named a second-team all conference runner.
The men finished the race with an eighteen second 1-4 spread (the time between the first and fourth runner’s time), while the women had a 2-4 spread of 16 seconds. “That’s fantastic,” said Coach Stiles.
In his first race of the season for the Bears, senior Matt Hoelle led his team. Hoelle, who had missed much of the season due to mono and then began racing unattached, finished third in 25:35. Seconds behind were teammates Bonner, Viet, and Reindl. Junior Nate Quest rounded out the top five scorers for the Bears, taking 17th place.
Sophomore Greg Reindl described the barriers of the men’s 8 kilometer course, which consisted of three loops and a steep hill that the runners charged up a handful of times. Though not considered a fast or easy course, the men “ran another good race. We got the job done,” said Reindl.
The women had an equally outstanding performance. Junior Maggie Grabow led the women with a first place finish, completing the women’s 6 kilometer course in 22:31. Named the UAA Athlete of the Year, Grabow was followed by teammates freshman Elizabeth Herndon, who finished 7th, senior Mindy Kuhl, who finished 9th, and sophomores Andrea Moreland and Ginny Griffin, who placed 11th and 15th respectively.
Grabow and Herndon were named first-team all-conference, while Kuhl and Moreland were named second-team all-conference.
Following both races, runners from each school speculated as to which team had won.
“I knew that we had gotten first when I realized that our top five had finished in the top fifteen,” said Griffin.
These exceptional results were preceded by a banquet Friday night. All the UAA teams dressed in costumes and feasted on both healthy cuisine and cheesecake. The rich desert and festivities inhibited none of the runners.
Coach Stiles was more than pleased with the teams. “They ran smart races,” said the coach, who along with his staff was honored with the coaching award of the year for both the men’s and women’s teams.
“Coach really got us pumped up and confident for this race,”said Griffin. “Telling us to turn our nervous energy into excitement. He said if you are nervous you must feel unprepared for the race, but we definitely were ready for this race. ”
The top seven runners will compete in Regionals on November 15 in Wisconsin, while the rest of the runners will host the National Invitational Two Mile race on the track this Friday.