Michigan Tech Cross Country Competes in UP Championships
MARQUETTE, Mich. – The Michigan Tech men's and women's cross country teams both competed at the UP Championships hosted by Northern Michigan University on Friday. The men finished in first place while the women checked in with a third place finish. The victory by the men was their 13th consecutive title at the UP Championships.
"On the women's side, I thought Amanda Kautzer had an outstanding race by recording a personal best time and crossing the line in under 24 minutes on the 6k course," Michigan Tech Head Coach Joe Haggenmiller said. "Madison Estkowski had a good day for us as well with a new personal best along while Lily Craft and Ruth Oppliger also turned in new personal bests. That was very exciting for us and shows that our athletes have worked hard all year to have their best results at the end of the season."
Kautzer paced the Huskies in seventh place overall with time of 23:58.2 against some strong competition. She was less than a minute behind Sophie McDonald of Northern Michigan who won the individual title with a time of 22:59.0.
Estkowski's personal best record time of 24:59.0 resulted in 17th place overall and was the second best team time for Michigan Tech on Friday. Craft hit the line with a time of 25:57.9 en route to a personal best as well, placing 29th in the overall individual standings. Oppliger was just four spots behind Craft with her personal record time of 26:20.3 and Abby Nieskes rounded out the top five for the Huskies in 34th place with a time of 26:25.4. Robin Jackson (36th, 26:40.0) and Anna Kubek (37th, 26:55.3) closed the meet with the sixth and seventh best team times on the day for Michigan Tech.
"Ryan Mattson had a great race today and was our college champion on the men's side," Coach Haggenmiller added. "Our men took the top four spots in the field of collegiate runners which was a perfect score and we can't ask for anything more than that. "All of our runners looked smooth and relaxed and had good race strategies. It showed with personal records for Ryan Mattson, Simon Eddy, and Thomas Bye so that was exciting for those guys. Overall, I think our men raced pretty well and it was nice to defend our UP Championship and to do it with a perfect score of 15 was even better."
Mattson led the charge for the men in first place for runners who were attached to teams while placing third in the overall standings. Mattson's new personal record time thanks to Friday's race is 26:56.9. Adam Martin who was not representing a team recorded the best time in the individual field, hitting the line in 25:30.5.
Eddy took home fourth place overall and second place for the Huskies and in the college standings with his personal record time of 27:08.5. Corey Zeutzius was just a few seconds behind Eddy in third place in the college standings (5th overall) by covering the 8k course in 27:15.8. Bye was fourth in the college standing (6th overall) after turning in a time of 27:15.9, just one tenth of a second in back of Zeutzius. Peter Pelon recorded a time of 27:27.7 to place fifth (9th overall) to round out the top five. Chase Scheel (6th college, 10th overall, 27:33.7) and Michael Tuski (9th, 13th overall, 27:46.0) had the sixth and seventh best team times for the Huskies on Friday.
The Michigan Tech men and women will both travel to Big Rapids, Michigan next Saturday (Oct. 22) to compete in the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships.