Michigan Tech Cross Country Logs 8th Place Finishes at Lewis
ROMEOVILLE, Ill. – The Michigan Tech men's and women's cross country teams both finished eighth at the Lewis Conference Crossover hosted by Lewis University on Saturday. The women turned in an average time of 23:32.06 while the top five runners for the men recorded an average time of 25:55.00.
"It was a very competitive meet and really exciting to get to race against some top NCAA Division II competition," Michigan Tech Head Coach Joe Haggenmiller said. "The meet really felt like the competition we might see at the NCAA Regional meet, with both Grand Valley State and Southern Indiana competing today. There were a number of other top ranked teams as well in both the men's and women's meets today."
Sophia Farquhar paced the women's team again this week on the strength of a 22nd overall finish, crossing the line with a time of 22:37.31. Farquhar was less than 40 seconds out of the top ten in the field and less than two minutes behind Emilee Trost of Minnesota-Duluth who won the individual championship with a time of 21:00.61.
Emily Byrd had another strong day for the Huskies by turning in the second best team time in the meet. Byrd hit the line in 23:08.57 and placed 41st in the overall standings. Emily Vigil followed Byrd in 53rd place overall, ending the day with a time of 23:20.68. Robyn Holmes checked in at number 86 overall courtesy of a 24:14.65 while Sonja Hedblom rounded out the top five for the Huskies in 90th place with a time of 24:19.08. Carly Huggins (95th 24:27.88), Julia Manzano (104th, 24:47.57), and Madisyn Estkowski (122nd, 25:26.54) also competed for the Huskies on Saturday.
Matt Pahl guided the men's team Saturday, finishing 28th overall with a personal best time of 25:26.79. He was less than 30 seconds out of the top ten and just under a minute off the pace setter. Zach Panning of Grand Valley State crossed the line first on his way to the individual title thanks to a time of 24:30.83.
Jason Saliga followed Pahl on Saturday landing in 31st place overall after covering the course in 25:33.94. Grant Brown was 52nd and also set a new personal best record with a time of 25:59.67 while Daniel Kulas checked in at number 65 by recording a time of 26:14.36. Kyle Hanson rounded out the top five for the Huskies and finished 69th overall with a time of 26:20.23. Chad Pollock (92nd, 26:48.74) and Brendan Klynstra (98th, 26:57.68) completed the top seven for the Huskies.
"I thought both our teams competed well and we are moving in the right direction," Haggenmiller added. "We had a lot of people run lifetime bests and that's all we can ask for is to compete hard and run the best we can and the rest will take care of itself. The process that we are on is in a good spot and the results are coming, but I think we have more gas left in the tank to make even more strides forward."
Grand Valley State won the team championships for both the women and the men with average times of 22:06.29 and 24:44.14 respectively.
Michigan Tech cross country will return to the course on Friday when both teams compete at the UP Championships hosted by Northern Michigan University.
"Our GLIAC squad for the most part will be taking next weekend off and our athletes that didn't make the cut for GLIAC will compete next weekend at Northern Michigan," Haggenmiller said. "It will be a good opportunity for them to compete and get their best of race of the year in."