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RIPON, Wis. - The 2012 Midwest Conference Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships will take place Saturday, October 27, 2012 at Enos Colburn Park in Green Bay, Wis. St. Norbert College will host the event which will kick off with the men’s 8k championship at 11 a.m. and conclude with the women’s 6k run at 12:00 p.m.
A combined 13 runners that finished in the top-10 last season return to complete for a MWC Individual Championship which includes seven on the men’s side and six on the women’s. Both individual champions return with Same Stevens (Lawrence) and Megan O’Grady (Carroll) coming back for their senior seasons as Ben Tyler (Grinnell, 2nd), Erik Figge (Grinnell, 3rd) and Rachel Bowden (Monmouth, 3rd) are also racing again after top-3 finishes last season. Other top returners this season on the men’s side include Curran Carlile (Lawrence, 5th), Kyle Dockery (Lawrence, 6th), Jake Barr (Monmouth, 8th) and Matt Gatlin (Monmouth, 10th). On the women’s side Sarah Burnell (Grinnell, 4th), Michelle Matter (Ripon, 6th), Stephanie Rouse (Grinnell, 7th) and Tori Beaty (Monmouth, 10th) will be on the course this season for the women.
Beloit enters the 2012 championships after finishing ninth on the men’s side and sixth on the women’s side last season. The last championship won by the Buccaneers was in the 1998 season when the women won a title and it has been since 1939 since the men have defeated the entire field. On the men’s side Jason Busack will run for an experienced team that only lost one senior from last season. Busack finished 45th in 2011 and completed the regular season with a time of 29:28.31 at the Wisconsin Private Schools Meet on October 13th. Joseph Skurski holds the team’s top time at the Ripon Invitational on October 6 when he ran the 8k course in 27:00. Matej Jungwirth and Ethan Ley have had strong seasons to round out the men’s lineup. Anna Wenzel holds the top time on the women’s side after a 23:23 6k time at the Ripon Invitational which ranks 13th in the conference. Karen Jones (24:49) and Camilla Jackson (24:57) rank second and third, respectively, for Beloit who hopes to move up the standings.
Reigning 2011 women’s champion Megan O’Grady is back for her senior year after leading the Pioneers to a fourth place finish a year ago. This season O’Grady ranks fifth among women’s runners with a 6k time of 22:45.20 at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational and will aim for her third conference championship after also winning the title in 2009. The Carroll women will also rely on Erika Garcia whose top time of 24:43.40 is second best on the team and Madeline Simon after she ran a 25:08 at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational. On the men’s side the Pioneers matched the women’s fourth place finish from a year ago and have four of the top 30 runners in the Midwest Conference. Christopher Behling ranks 15th with an 8k time of 26:26 while Zach Fowler (26:42.70) and Essace Jordan (26:49.20) rank 21st and 26th, respectively. Behling finished 18th at the 2011 championships and leads the Pioneers this season.
Cornell is back in the championship fold after returning to the MWC for the first time since the 1997 season. The Rams aim for their first men’s title since 1961 and the first women’s title since 1988 when they arrive in Green Bay. For the men Michael Kelso ran a time of 26:39 at the Lamb-Kohawk Invitational on October 6 which is the best time on the team this season. Jordan Kemme was right behind Kelso with a time of 26:54 while Thomas Chenault’s 8k time of 26:57 was third best on the team. Leslie Smebak headlines the Cornell women as she ranks seventh in the conference with a 6k time of 22:58.00 while teammate Laura Ettlin checks in at tenth with a time of 23:08. Smebak and Ettlin both were top-20 performers last season at the 2011 IIAC Cross Country Championships where Smebak finished in 15th place and Ettlin finished 19th in the 125 runner field. Cornell’s women’s team boasts six runners ranked in the top-30 heading into the championship.
Grinnell has a combined 44 cross country championships which is tops among MWC schools as they look to continue the trend in 2012. The Pioneer men were unable to win a championship last season, finishing second, which was the first time since 1996 that they didn’t finish with at least a share of the title. Frank Canady finished 15th in the 2011 championships and enters the 2012 version as the second best runner in the league. Canady ran a time of 25:55 at the Jim Drews Invitational on October 13 while teammate Erik Figge ranks fourth among all runners after running the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational in 26:06. Benjamin Tyler (26:13) and Adam Dalton (26:20) both rank in the top-10 to bolster a talented lineup for the Pioneers that has seven of the top-15 ranked runners. Sarah Burrnell is the top runner on the women’s side after running the Dan Huston Invitational in 22:01 and aims to improve on her fourth place finish in the 2011 championships. Stephanie Rouse earned a seventh place finish a year ago and ended the regular season ranked fourth in the league with a 6k time of 22:41 while Diana Seer ran a top time of 23:06 after finishing 21st overall as a freshman last season. The Pioneer women have captured six of the past eight women’s championships, including a 2011 championship.
In search of its first team championship on either the men’s or women’s side Illinois Col. will also run for its first individual championship in school history on Saturday in Green Bay. For the Blueboys Tim Southerland returns after a 55th place finish in the 2011 championships and held the top 8k time on the team this season of 28:06 at the Bradley Invitational on September 7. Josh Williams ran a 28:55 at the Illinois Col. Invitational and Aaron Winenger finished right behind Williams with a time of 29:18. The Lady Blues are led by Emma Hudspath who is the 29th ranked runner in the league with a top time of 24:26 at the Illinois Col. Invitational and looks to improve from her 40th place finish last season. Jill Friedrich has a season best time of 24:55 while Ana Flores returns after running a 26:02 6k time this season.
The Knox men finished fifth last year and return a pair of the team’s top runners from a year ago. Sean Choate finished 32nd in the 2011 championships and ended the season as the third ranked runner in the conference with an 8k time of 26:01 at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational. Gabriel Moreno is ranked just behind Choate at sixth after running a season-best time of 26:07. Moreno is the top returnee after he finished seventh last season in a time of 26:10. The Prairie Fire women look to improve on a ninth place finish last year and just like the men’s team are in search of the school’s first team championship. Elizabeth Reyes enters her first championship after running the fastest time of the season for Knox when she covered the 6k course at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational in 24:26. Mickella Duffy-Webb will compliment Reyes at the top of the lineup after finishing the regular season with a top time of 25:11.
The Foresters claimed a pair of eighth place finishes last season and aim to move up in the standings when they travel to Green Bay for the 2012 championships. On the men’s side Chris Wiatr holds a season-low 8k time of 27:21 that he ran at Wheaton’s Gil Dodds Invitation and finished tops on the team with a 30th place finish at the 2011 championships. Tom Flynn is right behind Wiatr with the team’s second fastest time with a 28:10 performance at the Gil Dodds Invitational while teammate Logan Banning-Saughnessy also checks in with a sub 29 minute run as his fastest time (28:49). Viktoria Baldacci is the top returnee for Lake Forest on the women’s side as she held the fastest 6k time on the team by over two minutes with a 24:24 performance at the Gil Dodds Invitational. Baldacci was a 39th place finisher last season while 49th place finisher Katie Waskom has the second fastest time on the season at the Spartan Classic on September 7 when she finished the course in 26:50.
Last season the Lawrence men won the MWC Championship for the first time since 1985, and the Vikings aim for a repeat bid in 2012 with three top-10 individual finishers returning from a season ago. Sam Stevens won the individual championship in 2011, covering the 8k course in 25:10, and enters this year’s event as the 10th- ranked runner with a top time of 26:19, which he recorded at the Warhawk Invitational on September 15. Curran Carlile ranks eighth in the conference with a season-best 26:15 mark at the Brooks Invitational on September 13 after finishing fifth overall at the 2011 championships. Kyle Dockery rounds out a strong trio for Lawrence coming off a 26:43 run in the Gene Davis Invitational October 6 and a sixth-place finish last season. The Viking women earned a fifth-place finish in 2011 and will race in search of its fourth championship and the first since 2001. Freshman Clarissa Bruning enters the weekend as the 15th-ranked runner with a 23:25 6k time at the Brooks Invitational while teammate Katherine Dannecker ran a 25:04.06, the second-fastest time of the year for the Vikings.
Monmouth had a strong performance last season with a third place finish for the men and a runner-up finish for the women and will be in the mix this year with a strong core of runners. The Fighting Scots have a combined five runners that are ranked in the top-10 on both the men’s and women’s side highlighted by the men’s top ranked runner Jake Barr. Barr covered the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational course in 25:53 which is the fastest 8k time this season in the league and he will try to improve on the eighth place finish last season. Matt Gatlin finished tenth last year and currently ranks fifth with a season-best time of 26:06 at the Brooks Invitational with Paul Davies also returning after a 16th place finish in 2011. The Monmouth women have won a championship as recently as 2008 and enter this year’s championships with three of the top-10 ranked runners in the league. Tory Beaty headlines the trio as she ranks third in the MWC with a top time of 22:40 at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational. Beaty was also a tenth place finisher last year while Rachel Bowden was a third place finisher and returns for her senior year. Bowden ranks sixth in the league with her best race coming at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational finishing in 22:50 with teammate Brittney Frazier finishing the same race in 23:03 that ranks her eighth in the league.
Ripon raced to a pair of seventh place finishes last season and aim to reach the pinnacle for the school’s first men’s or women’s championship in school history. Each team has a top-15 finisher returning from 2011 headlined on the women’s side by Michelle Matter. Matter finished sixth in 2011 with a time of 22:09 and completed the regular season as the second ranked runner with a season-best time of 22:34 at the Ripon Invitational on October 6. Grace Winter is also back this season as she ranks 12th in the league with a 23:14 time at the Ripon Invitational and finished 25th at last season’s championships. Abigail Quackenboss (24:03) and Karla Perez (24:11) gives the Red Hawks a pair of freshman that rank in the top-25 to add to the veteran leadership at the top of the lineup. On the men’s side Cory Zimmerman was a 14th place finisher last season and ranks 17th in the conference this season with a time of 26:32 at the Ripon Invitational. Rob Waters ranked second on the Ripon squad with an 8k time of 28:49 at the Ripon Invitational.
St. Norbert just missed out on a women’s championship last season but looks to repeat its 2010 championship performance this year with a talents group of runners. The Green Knights have five runners ranked in the top-20 of the league led by Charlotte Walsh. Walsh owns a team-best 6k performance with a 23:11 that she ran at the Dan Huston Invitational in only her freshman year. Elvia Martinez finished 15th last season and ran a season-best time of 23:44 at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational while Amanda Whipple ran a 23:47 at the same event. Whipple was a fourth place finisher at the 2010 MWC Championships. The men also have a strong lineup with four runners ranked in the top-20 after a sixth place finish last season. Nathan Heppe was a 21st place finisher last year and finished the regular season as the 18th best runner with a top time of 26:34 at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational while Brady Bemis ran a 26:43 as his top time after a 28th place finish last season. Logan Jadin was the Green Knights top runner during the regular season with an 8k time of 26:17.30 at Brissman-Lundeen.