<st Saturday the women’s cross-country team traveled down to the flat land of windmills to challenge a number of regional squads, including the strong host, Wartburg College.
The Knights placed 3rd, impressive alone, and even more so after you consider that many of the team’s usual scorers did not compete. We’ll see if the team’s strategy of taking out sick runners now to prevent illness later pays off in November.
As usual, Simone Childs-Walker ’12 was the first Knight to complete the course. Admittedly, she performed this feat before the race actually began and in fact did not compete last Saturday. Instead, she and teammate Clare Franco ’12 leant their strength to the team through their encouraging cheers and took advantage of the opportunity to observe their teammates’ different race strategies.
The indomitable Laura Roach ’10 was the first Knight to officially cross the finish line, placing 3rd (2nd of DIII runners) in a season’s best 22:39. This performance would earn her MIAC Athlete of the Week honors. Battling Wartburg’s toughest trio was Taylor Ffitch ‘12, who would finish 8th in a personal best of 23:14. Alison Smyth ’12 followed Ffitch, placing 12th.
Emily Fritz-Endres ’11 continued the spectacular season she’s been having, placing 4th for the Knights, closely followed by Irene Koplinka-Loehr ’10. Kaitlin Randolph ’12 has conquered her early season lung troubles and charged through the finish line, closing in on Koplinka-Loehr.
If I were to trust any Knight with getting me off the line at the right pace, it would probably be Laura Sofen ’10. She exploited her rivals’ quick starts once again in a performance that put her close to Randolph.
Julie Bresenbruch ’13, from Hawaii, dealt with her first race in the cold quite well, stating that it was the best finish she’s had all season.
Haley “One-Glove” Johnson ’13 continued the improvement she’s been seeing all season, despite a mishap involving a portable toilet and a glove that quite shocked her coach.
Carrie Harshbarger ’13 also had a strong performance, coming across the line just in front of a large pack of runners. Not to be confused with the other Lauras, Karl ’13 used her strength to engineer a long, powerful finishing kick. Sameena Ahmed ’12, though disappointed by the lack of snow on the course, had another great performance, powering past quite a few runners in the last straightaway.
The Knights look to be rejoined at the Running of the Cows this weekend by their team members who spent last Saturday generating antibodies.
The women’s varsity race will be at 10:00 am in our very own Upper Arb, followed by the men at 10:45 am and an open 2-mile run at 11:30 am. Come support your cross country teams at home and get a taste of the action yourself afterwards!