The Gustavus women’s cross country team set out to improve on last year’s fourth place finish at the MIAC Championships, and it did just that placing third at this season’s conference meet Saturday in St. Paul, Minn. Carleton stole the podium with the 2011 team title, including the top three individuals, while St. Olaf took second.
Carleton’s Simon Childs-Walker won the event with a time of 22:06. Her teammates, Alison Smyth and Rachael Klehm, took second and third, respectively. Smyth finished with a time of 22:15 and Klehm at 22:18.
The Gustie women saved their best race for last, as their top five runners finished in the top 30. Junior Kate Eggers led the team with a ninth-place finish in 22:50. Senior Brooke Beskau finished in 10th place at 22:55. Junior Beth Hauer took 15th in 23:14, first-year Rebecca Hare 21st in 23:28 and senior Kim Rostvold 27th in 23:47.
“Our ladies ran extremely well,” Head coach Dale Bahr said. “Tremendous showing top to bottom. You could see coming into the race that they were focused on placing as high as possible. We never really ran at full strength during the season, but the full team as a unit ran tougher than nails, they just looked great.”
Coach Bahr was also pleased with how his squad competed in comparison to other quality teams in the conference and how that could translate into the regional meet in two weeks.
“Carleton and St. Olaf are great teams and will make the national meet,” Bahr stated. “Not only will they make it, but they’re going to make some noise as well. And for us to place third behind them says a lot about our team.”
The NCAA Division III Central Region Meet will be held in Waverly, Iowa on Saturday, Nov. 12.