After having unseated Grinnell last year from their position as conference champions for the previous fourteen years, the Lawrence University men’s cross country team finished second to Grinnell as the Pioneers reclaimed their title with a vengeance.
“Grinnell is a great team,” commented Head Coach Jason Fast. “We beat them last year, and you could tell from the moment the gun went off they wanted their title back.” Grinnell finished with a team total of 33 points. Lawrence was second with 93 points and St. Norbert finished in third with 106 points. Fast stated, “[Grinnell was] anything but under the radar for us.”
Individually, the first Lawrentian to cross the line was junior Curran Carlile from Portland, Oregon. Carlile covered the 8,000-meter course in 25:52 to finish sixth overall. Right behind him was teammate Sam Stevens. The senior from Suamico, Wisc. finished seventh in 25:58. Sophomore Kyle Dockery from Barrington, Ill. finished third for the Vikings in 26:27.
Behind him was junior Jamie Brisbois from Falcon Heights, Minn., who finished the race in 26:43. Junior Dan Thoresen finished up the scoring for the Vikings with his time of 27:13. “We had very few runners improve on their conference finish from last year and in college if you aren’t moving forward you are going backwards,” noted Fast. “That’s exactly what we did.”
For the Vikings women, it was not their best showing. However, it was not entirely the fault of the runners. The team finished in eighth overall, but they did so without two of their top runners. “We lost one of our varsity runners on Friday to an emergency surgery,” noted Fast. “We lost another one of our varsity runners during the race to an asthma attack.”
On the positive side, freshman Clare Bruning from Mondovi, Wisconsin ran a phenomenal race. She was the top freshman in the conference and was one place away from the best finish for a Lawrence University freshman ever. Bruning covered the 6000 meters in 23:12 to finish seventh overall. Freshman Cora Williams from Brentwood, Calif., finished second for the Vikings in 25:13. Katherine Dannecker, a junior from Milwaukee, finished in 25:37. Junior Anna Ratliff from Elmhurst, Ill. finished in 26:08, and freshman Vanessa Cattleman from Teec Nos Pos, Az. stepped up for the Vikings with her finishing time of 26:21.
There still were good feelings all around as the season came to a close. Bruning stated, “I’ve really grown to love Lawrence cross country this fall, and I think that goes for everyone.”
As the Vikings look to the future, they do so without the help of Stevens and fellow senior Amanda Dwyer. “Losing Sam and Amanda will be a big blow to our team,” said Fast. He continued, “but we will be returning some really great runners, and I fully expect them to train harder to help fill the void.”
Cross Country MWC race
