Margaret BauerThe Washington University women’s cross country team finished second overall on Saturday in the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships held in Rock Island, Illinois. Their second place finish qualifies them to compete in the NCAA Championships which will be held next Saturday in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. The men’s team failed to qualify as a team as they finished in eighth place in the event. The men’s squad will have a representative at the Championships, however, as junior Greg Reindl qualified individually for the event with a ninth place finish in the men’s race.
The women’s team was again paced by senior Maggie Grabow who finished fifth overall with a time of 21:21.5. She was followed by freshman Tyler Mulkin, who came in 16th, sophomore Beth Herndon in 19th, junior Stephanie Felz in 26th, and sophomore Lindsay Harkema in 27th. Despite placing five runners in the race’s top 30, the Bears finished just behind University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point who captured first place in the meet. The Regionals send the top four teams to the national championships. which means that Wisconsin-Stevens Point as well third place University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh and fourth place University of Wisconsin-LaCrosse will all be joining the Bears at the Championships. Grabow was ecstatic with the team’s performance.
“We knew that we had it in us, that we had the potential to qualify, so it was just a matter of performing,” Grabow said. “We couldn’t be more pleased. It has been our goal to qualify and we have finally fulfilled this goal.”
Entering the meet, the women’s team’s goal had been simply to finish in the top four in order to qualify for the Championships, so topping this goal by finishing in the top two was particularly gratifying for the Bears.
“We were looking to finish in the top four and to be the runner-up is really exciting,” Grabow said. “We like to joke around sometimes and say ‘Feed the Bears, we’re hungry.’ That’s kind of how we approached the race yesterday. We were hungry for the win. We had our hearts set on qualifying, so that’s what we set out to do.”
For these hungry Bears, the day’s superb weather as well as their excellent preparation helped make the race a proverbial picnic.
“We had ideal conditions yesterday; the weather was cool in the upper 40s-perfect for racing,” Grabow said. “The course was flat with relatively good footing, and Coach Stiles had us prepared.”
On the men’s side, the Bears’ eighth place finish was not enough to qualify them as a team for the Championships. The men’s Championships, which takes five teams from the Regionals, will take LaCrosse, North Central College, University of Chicago, Stevens Point, and University of Wisconsin-Plattevlle-the events top five teams in order. Besides Reindl, who finished ninth, the Bears also received strong performances from junior Brennan Bonner, who came in 22nd, senior Nate Quest, who came in 52nd and junior Derek Leidigh, who finished 56th.
For the women’s team, their upcoming appearance in the Championships will mark the fourth time the team has qualified for the event. The team qualified for the event three years consecutively from 2000 to 2002. While Grabow expects the race to be their toughest of the year, she was confident in the team’s preparation and stressed the importance approaching the race as they would any other.
“Nationals will undoubtedly be challenging. We’ll be racing against the best girls in the nation. Our fitness is at its best now-the hard part of the training is over. Now is the fun part,” Grabow said. “We have to go into it like any other race-have confidence in our training and keep moving up in the race. No matter how we end up, it is an honor to participate in the NCAA National Meet.”