It was truly a team effort at the NJCAA national cross country championship, Saturday, November 10 hosted by Rend Lake College. Though the men finished 25th of 40 teams and the women 16th of 33, the efforts were outstanding and many PR's were set. In their last JC cross country race, Hannah Griffin and Kelsey Holsapple recorded the top two times ever run by Cougar women runners. Hannah's time of 19:02 shattered the previous best by almost a minute and Kelsey wasn't far behind with her 19:13. Hannah placed 44th, just 4 places from earning Coaches Association All-American honors. Darce Knapp and Marissa Menke recorded times of 20:28 and 20:29, respectively, and Rachel Harvey, suffering from the effects of a week of the cold and flu, completed the scoring with a 21:09 time. Sam Conlee wasn't far behind with her 21:36. Going into the meet the women were ranked 22nd nationally, so their finish bested the ranking by 6 places.
The men equalled their pre-meet ranking with their 25th place finish. Billy Miller led the team by finishing 77th in 27:10. Other scorers were Scott Perry at 27:46, Justin Phillis (27:48), Joe Klumb (28:59 - a HUGE PR!), and Carl Pflederer (29:36), also competing after a week of illness. Hank Stickelmaier ran a 31:48 to complete the team.
A big COUGAR THANKS to the many friends and family members that made the trip down to Rend Lake to cheer the team on. Your support at this meet and throughout the season was greatly appreciated.
It was a season of ups and downs, with injuries and illnesses taking their toll, but the season definitely ended on a high note with some outstanding performances. With most of the team consisting of Sophomores, their leadership both on and off the field will be missed. But they have certainly set the standard for teams to come, and we hope to continue their academic and athletic excellence.
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