ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus College men’s cross country team placed fifth at the MIAC Championships on Saturday afternoon at Como Park. The Gusties tallied a team score of 109, just 13 points back of Saint John’s University, which placed second. St. Olaf College won the meet with a total of 34 points.
“Our men ran very well as a whole today,” said Coach Dale Bahr. “However, out of our top-5, I think two of them had great races, while the rest can run better.”
Evan Jones (Jr., Pella, Iowa) led the Gusties for the first time all season, as he grabbed all-conference honors with a ninth place finish after crossing the finish line in 26.28.5, a personal best time. Thomas Knobbe (Jr., Decorah, Iowa) was next and also took home all-conference honors after placing 13th with a time of 26:40.0.
Carston Dammann (So., Lake City, Minn.) was third for the Gusties and earned all-conference honorable mention honors with a 21st place finish after crossing the line in 26:51.1. Paul Nordquist (Sr., Edina, Minn.) was right behind him with a 22nd place finish, also good for all-conference honorable, crossing the finish line in 26:57.2. Marcus Speca (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn.) rounded out the Gustie scoring with a time of 27:56.0, good for 44th place.
“Evan Jones and Carston Dammann both had fantastic races for us today,” said Bahr. “I thought Thomas was good, but not his best, and Paul and Marcus were also a bit off from their usual selves. However, since I’ve been here, I don’t think we’ve had two all-conference runners along with two honorable mentioners right on their heels, so it was nice to see them run well and have four in the top-22.”
If you look at the team results, 13 points separate the second through fifth place teams, so I really believe that on any given day, we could have just as easily taken second,” added Bahr. “We weren’t able to do that as a team today, but I expect that we’ll be able to rise to the occasion and beat some of these teams in two weeks at regionals. One of our team’s goal is to make it to nationals, and I think we can do that … we’ve put ourselves in a good position, and if we run well as a whole, we can certainly achieve a great result.”
The Gusties will return to the course on Nov. 14 when they travel to Pella, Iowa for the NCAA Central Regional Meet.