After boasting the No. 1 ranking in the Division III NCAA poll for two weeks, the Washington University women’s cross country team fell to the number four slot after winning the Border War Invitational on Oct. 8. Coming into this weekend’s UW-Oshkosh Invitational, the squad was poised to show why they were number one.
Both the Lady Bears and the men’s squad had difficult tasks ahead of them; four of the top 18 women’s teams and four of the top 25 men’s teams in the nation were all competing in Oshkosh.
Out of the field of seven competing teams, the women’s squad finished in the top slot for the fourth time this season. The No. 18 men’s squad found their own success, placing fourth in a field of 12 teams.
In the one-event 6,000 meter race, junior Elizabeth Herndon and senior Stephanie Felz helped the Red-and-Green edge out University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point for the win. The 15th-ranked UW-Stevens Point had finishers in the first and second slots, but Herndon and Felz followed closely behind for third and fourth place finishes, respectively. Herndon finished the 6K in 22:02.70, while Felz finished in 22:18.30. UW-Stevens Point finished the event in second place
Solid performances put in by six more Bears who finished in the top 20 helped the Red-and-Green round out their scoring with 37 points. Six Bears finished in the top 20 in the race that featured 112 runners.
Junior Lindsay Harkema (eighth, 22:42.30), sophomore Amy Levine (10th, 22:51.80), sophomore Tyler Mulkin (12th, 23:07.50, senior Andrea Moreland (13th, 23:10.7), sophomore Kate Pentak (16th, 23:16.3) and senior Ginny Griffin (19th, 23:13.2) rounded out the scoring for the Bears.
On the men’s side, senior Brennan Bonner led the field, finishing the 8K course in ninth place out of 223 runners with a time of 25:19.00. Junior Kevin Gale finished 30th in 25:46.60 and junior Joe Guinness finished 33rd with a time of 25:49.90.
Calvin College, the defending men’s national champions, boasted four of the top five finishers in the race and took home the top place in the event.
So far this season, the women’s squad has won all but one of the meets in which they’ve run. The men, who moved into the 18th-ranked spot after last week’s seventh place finish in the Border War Invitational, have finished in the top five in every competition except one, as well.
Next weekend, the squads will travel to Pittsburgh, Pa., to compete in the University Athletic Association (UAA) Championships, hosted by Carnegie Mellon University.
The winner of the event gets an automatic bid to send runners to the NCAA Championships, to be held on Nov. 19 in Delaware, Ohio.