Cross country competes in regionals
The men’s and women’s cross country teams raced at the NCAA Central Region Championships in Joplin, Missouri, on Nov. 4, with the women’s team placing second to Winona State University and senior Ryan Hartman earning second overall in the men’s 10k.
Winona State outscored the Augustana women 52-95. Junior Ella Bakken said the team expected the successful outcome.
“Our team’s goal was to make it to the national championship,” Bakken said. “We were going for the win, but Winona State is just really good right now.”
Winona State’s women’s team is the fifth ranked team in the nation, according to the Women’s Cross Country National Coaches’ Poll. Augustana’s women’s team is ranked 13th in the nation following the Central Regionals race.
The second place finish was due largely to Bakken’s 10th place finish in the race, clocking in a time of 21:06.23. She was followed closely by junior Aubrey Surage, who finished 12th with a time of 21:11.72. All of the Vikings’ women runners finished in the top 50 at regionals, good enough for an automatic bid to the NCAA Championship on Nov. 18.
The team ran successfully, having six of the seven women competing in their first championship meet. “We are still really young,” director of cross country and track and field Tracy Hellman, said. “Give our women a little more experience and we will be tough to beat.”
On the men’s side, four out of the seven eligible runners were dealing with injuries at the time of the race. With 197 points, the team placed seventh as a collective group out of 29 teams.
“We just kind of had to personalize some training plans a little bit and do a lot more cross training, like elliptical workouts and stuff like that as opposed to running, which transitions pretty well to running fitness,” senior Nick Larson said. “But you’re not going to be able to replicate the steps you can do workout-wise [when] running.”
Larson said at the beginning of the season, the men’s team set out to do better than the previous year’s third-place finish at Central Regionals. Injuries hurt the team this fall, leading to the men’s team missing out on the national meet for the first time since 2008.
“[Not advancing to NCAA’s] is a punch to the face to not make it, but I think it will serve as good motivation and good fuel to the fire for the next year to come,” Larson said.
In spite of the setback, Hartman was able to secure a second place finish and advance to the NCAA Championship as an individual automatic bid. He crossed the finish line with a time of 29:51.42.
The men’s team all placed in the top 100 of the event. Hartman and the men’s team went into the race hopeful, regardless of the injuries.
“We kind of believed that we were gonna do what we needed to do,” Hartman said. “But then we went out there and realized those injuries were a pretty big setback for sure.”
While the regionals were disappointing for the men, they still intended to rally around Hartman and the Vikings women.
“We don’t just let our leaders support themselves,” Larson said. “We are gonna support [Hartman] as best we can. All I know is we are all gonna turn out to the national meet to watch him and support him, as well as the women’s team because they are pretty poised for a big day.”
The women’s team and Hartman now look forward to the National Championships on Nov. 18. They will return to the same course as Central Regionals in Joplin and hope to find success.
Hartman said his individual goal is to finish in the top seven. Bakken said she hopes to podium and earn a top-four finish as a team.
“Our women need to focus on being the best that they can be...nothing more nothing less. I’m excited to see what they can do,” Hellman said. “They have gotten better each meet. Ryan Hartman is in the best fitness and mental frame at any time in his career. He has worked hard and done everything he can to put himself in a positive position for NCAA’s. The sky’s the limit.”
