bearsports.wustl.eduThe third-ranked Washington University women’s cross country team took third place for the second straight year at the NCAA Cross Country National Championships held in Delaware, Ohio, on November 19th.
The Bears scored 132 total points, edging into the third-place slot behind Williams College with 107 points and SUNY-Geneseo with 87. The SUNY-Geneseo Blue Devils were the top-ranked team in the nation heading into last Saturday’s showdown, and they showed why by delivering the national championship. With 24 teams and 213 runners competing in the race, the Bears’ third-place finish put an exclamation mark on their impressive season.
Junior All-American Beth Herndon carried the squad with a University-best time, finishing the six-kilometer women’s run in just 22:33.5, good for 11th place. Sophomore Tyler Mulkin (22:54.0) and senior Stephanie Felz (23:09.3) both finished with excellent times as well, finishing in 29th and 40th place, respectively. The other qualifying scorers were sophomore Kate Pentak and junior Lindsay Harkema, both finishing within the top 80. Senior Andrea Moreland and sophomore Amy Levine rounded out the Bears’ runners as the team capped off a tremendous season.
University head coach Jeff Stiles was extremely pleased with his team’s performance.
“This is the best team we have had at Washington University,” said Stiles. “Each person ran well; we ran significantly better than last year. We finished third last season, but we were 17 points better this year. We feel pretty good about how we finished and look forward to building on the season.”
Before the Red and Green could celebrate their finish, they had a long road that led to the NCAAs. The squad took home a first place finish out of 39 at the Midwest Regional Competition in Peoria, Illinois, earning the team a bid to the NCAAs and a first place finish in the University Athletic Association Championships in Pittsburgh, Pa. During the season, the team also garnered first place finishes in the University’s Early Bird Meet, the UM-Rolla Miner Invitational, the Border War Invitational, and the UW-Oshkosh Invitational.
Although the women may have stolen the headlines in Ohio, Senior Brennan Bonner and junior Kevin Gale qualified as individuals to compete at the Championships. Bonner took 67th in the 8K race, finishing with a time of 26:55.1. Gale was not far behind, finishing in 70th place with a time of 26:57.5. Both runners finished in the top third of all finishers, as the race drew a very tough field of 211 runners.
“It was an exciting week,” commented Bonner. “The women did really well, and any season when you make nationals has to be considered a successful one. At the same time, I was hoping to place a little higher.”
While Bonner may have been disappointed in his own performance, Stiles was very optimistic about his men’s squad.
“Our men are getting closer to where we want to be,” said Stiles. “The way Brennan and Kevin ran today, we could have finished in the top 16 with an entire team in the field. I’m happy with the way Brennan and Kevin performed.”
The men’s team, despite a valiant effort at the Regional Championships, failed to qualify for Nationals. The team just missed out on a chance to compete at Nationals, but did a great job of achieving their own personal goals.
“We were hoping to qualify for Nationals as a team,” explained Bonner. “Coach [Stiles] gave us a point total for Regionals he thought it would take to qualify, and we did better than he predicted. The other teams just outperformed us, but we had a real good season on the whole.”
The men’s team finished 6th overall at Regionals, just shy of national qualifying, and also finished 4th at the UAA Championships. The men also finished 2nd in both the University’s Early Bird Meet and the UM-Rolla Miner Invitational. Although the team did not make Nationals, the season was still considered a success by many.
“The team had a really good season,” said Bonner. “A lot of people really came into their own as far as running and improved a lot during the season.”