Northfield, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s and women’s cross country teams brought their 2013 seasons to a close at the NCAA Central Region Championships held Saturday afternoon on the campus of St. Olaf College. The Gustavus women’s team scored a 260 to finished in 11th place out of 27 teams, while the men’s squad turned in a score of 510 to finish 19th out of 26 teams.
Wartburg won the women’s title with a score 86, Carleton placed runner-up with a 104, and St. Olaf rounded out the top three in third with a 131. On the men’s side it was St. Olaf running away with the championship with a score of 51. Central placed second with 61 points, and Luther took third with 127 points.
For the second straight season at the NCAA Regional Championships, the Gustie women were led by the performance of Rebecca Hare (Jr., Albany, Minn.). Hare – a two-time All-Conference performer – was the top Gustavus finisher at last season’s regional meet with a 13th place finish. The Albany, Minn. product achieved her second consecutive All-Region honor this year by placing 22nd with a time of 23:12.99.
Caitlin Fermoyle (Jr., Mendota Heights, Minn.) and Lauren Shurson (So., Chanhassen, Minn.) were next in line behind Hare in 50th and 51st place, respectively. Fermoyle ran a 23:48.34, and Shurson went 23:48.94.
Rounding out the women’s top five was Lyndsi Schwichtenberg (Sr., Owatonna, Minn.) in 65th (23:59.54) and MaKena Hofer (So., Montevideo, Minn.) in 72nd (24:03.29).
Thomas Knobbe (Fr., West Des Moines, Iowa) paced the men’s team in 71st after crossing the finish line in 26:56.37. Behind him was Evan Jones (Fr., Pella, Iowa) who placed 95th with a time of 27:36.2, and Tanner Davenport (Sr., Ham Lake, Min.) who ran right behind Jones and posted a 97th place finish in 27:36.
Rounding out the men’s top individuals was Carston Dammann (Fr., Lake City, Minn.) in 119th (28:03.87), and Sam Fransen (Sr., Jackson, Minn.) in 128th (28:17.67).
St. Scholastica’s Chelsea Johnson took home individual medalist honors with a time of 21:10.99 in the women’s race. Noelle Olson of St. Olaf finished runner-up in 21:30.79, and Tricia Serres of Luther took third in 21:42.44.
Eli Horton of Central College was crowned the individual champion in the men’s race, crossing the finish line in 24:35.97. Horton was followed by Oles Grant Wintheiser in second (24:39.62), and Jake Brown in third (24:47.17).