The men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the NCAA Division III Regional Championships in Pella, Iowa last Saturday. The men placed 11th among 27 teams while the women finished in eighth place.
Though the final standings might suggest otherwise, the Pioneers are generally pleased with their overall performance.
“This year we remained really focused and after a really great conference team victory we had good vibes going into regionals,” said Evan Griffith ’15. “We got 11th overall, so that’s a super solid team place.”
Griffith led the men’s squad as he finished 48th in the eight-kilometer race in his final meet of his collegiate career. He concluded his race with a time of 26:06.6, a personal best for the senior.
“I thought we did really well,” Griffith said. “I was happy with our team effort. Everyone ran really hard. That was my last race as a college runner for cross country so I was really happy with it.”
Rounding out the rest of the race were Anthony McLean ’17 and Adam Dalton ’16, who finished 49th and 54th, respectively. McLean’s time was 26:07.4 and Dalton came in at 26:10.0.
“My teammate Adam had a really great season and he didn’t perform as well as he wanted to at Regionals,” Griffith said. “That happens and unfortunately it happened [at] that race, so personally I wish it had gone better for him.”
On the women’s side, Alosha Southern ’17 ended her six-kilometer race with a time of 22:50.2. Her time was good for a 32nd-place finish and an All-Region honor.
“I wish that I had been more ambitious at the beginning of the race,” she said. “Because the Regionals race is a race that the top seven runners from each team run, everyone is so close together for the entire race, and everybody is around the same pace. So had I gone out a little bit faster, been a little more ambitious, we would have been able to squeeze more people into the top 35.”
Emma Luhmann ’18 and Diana Seer ’15 followed suit, finishing 44th and 51st, respectively.
The Pioneers had to cope with running in adverse conditions, though. According to Southern, women’s head coach Evelyn Freeman hoped for snow during the race.
“Her rationale is that powerhouse teams might not necessarily do so well under not ideal conditions,” Southern said. “So if the conditions are not ideal it’s more like anybody’s game. So it levels the playing field.”
Both the men’s and women’s teams will be losing some pivotal seniors next season. However, they remain positive about the squads’ outlook for next year.
“It’s going to be tough,” Griffith said of the men’s team. “There are going to be some guys who will need to step up and next year the team’s going to have great leadership and I see no reason why they can’t win another Conference title.”
