The Knights men's team starts the race off strong on Saturday. Photo by Amanda Gahler
DREW SHRADEL STAFF WRITER
After taking the weekend off, the women’s Cross Country team won the Don Huston Invitational, while the men took fifth.
Anna Kraayenbrink led the Knights by taking second place overall with a time of 22:08.
Kraayenbrink finished behind an unattached runner Caedryn Schrunk, a University of Northern Iowa alumni.
“Anna had a great race,” head coach Steve Johnson said, “she really dueled well with Schrunk and almost had her at the end.”
Amanda and Jennifer Kuiken came in fourth and fifth with times of 23:08.
Lori Tlach was behind them as she finished sixth for the Knights with a time of 23:10.
Nicole Calabrese rounded out the Knights top five with a 23rd place finish and a time of 24:01.
“To see the Kuikens and Tlach running all together was a terrific sight,” Johnson said. “Our usual number five runner Laura Sigmund was out because of a sprained ankle, but I was very happy with how Nicole stepped up to race so well.”
The No. 5-ranked Knights’ came out on top with 39 points, beating No. 6-ranked University of Wisconsin La Crosse, who scored 63 points.
The men’s team found themselves not only in the same place as last year’s Dan Huston invite, but with the same score as last years as well.
Matt Moore and Jon Stover led the way for the men as Moore came in 13th with a time of 26:23 and Stover finished 20th with a time of 26:34.
“Just a great race for both of them,” Johnson said, “both had personal bests, and I am just really excited about how both of them have stepped up to lead this team.”
The rest of the Knights top five finishers were all sophomores or younger.
Sam Sturtz finished 29th with a time of 26:55, Jon Sturm 33rd with a time of 27:02 and Shane Warehime was 5th for the team, 38th overall with a time of 27:14.
“This was the best team race that the men have had in probably the last two years,” Johnson said.
He said he was excited to see the young team perform well.
“We have graduated about a dozen All-Americans in the past two years, Brian Chenoweth being one of them last year, and to be finishing like we are means that we are focused on racing hard,” he said.
The men finished with 133 points.
The No. 15th-ranked Augustana College (Ill.) won the meet with 37 points. The University of Wisconsin - Platteville came in second with 43, while the University of Wisconsin - La Crosse rounded out the top three with 90 points.
Both men and women teams will be in action next week at UW-LaCrosse for the Jim Drewes/Tori Neubauer Invitational. Races will begin at 10:30 a.m.