The Washington University men’s and women’s cross-country teams competed in the UAA Cross Country Championship Saturday in Forest Park. The women’s team placed second, while the men’s team tied for second.
In the women’s race, the third-ranked Wash. U. squad was upset by 17th-ranked Case Western Reserve University, which claimed its first-ever UAA championship in any sport. Wash. U. was paced by senior Beth Herndon, who won her second consecutive UAA individual title with a time of 22:08 in the 6k race.
Herndon was followed by junior Kate Pentak (third place, 22:15), junior Tricia Frisella (sixth place, 22:38), senior Lindsay Harkema (11th place, 23:07) and junior Lisa Sudmeier (21st place, 23:58).
The women’s team ran the race without one of its top runners, junior Tyler Mulkin, who did not run the race because she still needs time to recover from a minor injury and to reach full strength for regional and national competitions.
Mulkin’s absence may have been most missed due to the fact that Cross Country races use the top five finisher’s scores for overall team points. The women’s top five finished just three points behind Case in the standings.
Although the race snapped the women’s streak of four consecutive conference titles, head coach Jeff Stiles was not especially worried about the team’s performance.
“Without Tyler I knew it was going to be really close. Case is a very good team, and they were better than us today,” said Stiles.
“This team is still the most talented team I have ever coached, and I feel confident about our chances at the upcoming meets.”
In the men’s 8k race, Wash. U. tied for second with Brandeis University with a score of 86 points. New York University, which had five runners in the top nine overall, dominated the meet en route to a first place finish.
Wash. U.’s second place finish was a substantial improvement from last year’s fourth place finish. The race was also successful for the men in that they accomplished their goal by beating 19th-ranked Carnegie Mellon.
The men’s team was led by junior Jesse McDaniel, who finished in sixth place with a time of 25:42. McDaniel was followed by seniors Kevin Gale (11th place, 25:58), Ryan Lester (18th place, 26:22) and Joe Guinness (21st place, 26:28). Stiles was also pleased with the way his men ran: “The men ran a great race today. I think we can run better in two weeks. If they compete similarly in two weeks, they will have a shot at qualifying for nationals.”
The Cross Country Bears return to action Saturday, Nov. 11, at the Midwest Regional Championship in Rock Island, Ill.