Cross Country Finishes Season on a High Note at Regionals
Winnecone, Wis. – Despite wintry conditions, the DIII NCAA Midwest Regional Championship course was flat and fast, and championship energy was palpable as hundreds of cheering spectators lined the course. The Griffins capitalized on the opportunity to make the most of their peak, end-of-season season fitness with stellar performances.
On the men's side, junior Cristian Sellars had a career-best performance, finishing 167th out of 265 competitors with a time of 27:36. Sellars ran a smart, evenly-paced 8K race, coming through 1K in 194th place and working his way up throughout the race. His time was a personal best for 8K and 56 seconds faster than his performance two weeks ago at the SLIAC Championship meet.
The women also fared well, led by junior Olivia Beggs, who finished 127th out of 281 runners in a time of 24:04. Begg's performance was 16 places ahead of last year's Regionals finish and 24 seconds ahead of the 6K personal best she set at this year's SLIAC Championship. Captain Claire Becker passed 36 people from 1K to the finish by running an evenly-paced race. She finished in a 22 second career best at 25:38 at 205th place. Freshmen Cathy Maschmeyer finished in a personal best of 26:26, and first-year runner Grace Poindexter also had a solid performance, finishing in a time of 30:20.
"Everything over the course of the season builds towards SLIACs and Regionals," said Coach Kelli Blake. "Still, it would have been easy for the team to pack it in for the season mentally and emotionally after good performances SLIACs. Instead, they competed with a championship mentality in a competitive field and walked away results they should be very proud of. If we can maintain that mentality going into track, great things are going to happen."