Tech Men Victorious at Phoenix Open; Ringhand Wins Second Consecutive Race
GREEN BAY, Wis. – The Michigan Tech Cross Country squads impressed in their second meet of the season, with the individual winner of the men's race and a top-2 finish in the team races at the Phoenix Open in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on Friday afternoon.
"Today was a great day–great weather, great course and great performances from the team," Head Coach Kristina Owen said.
"I'm so happy with how they're coming together and racing as a team. We're looking good as we head into our next races and the championship selection portion of the season."
Tucker Ringhand continues to perform in the early stages of the season, running near his personal-best for 8k. The Crosby, Minnesota, native won the race in 25:02.5, over three seconds ahead of the second-place finisher. His low-stick performance helped the No. 18 nationally-ranked men of Michigan Tech win the team race with a score of 40 points. Wis. Oshkosh placed second (58 points) and Milwaukee placed third (61 points).
The women's team took second overall, scoring 64 points, finishing behind Winona State (24 points), who were tabbed fifth in the USTFCCCA Preseason Coaches' Poll. As a team, the Huskies average time broke 23 minutes, with a time of 22:59.
"While our women were short handed, they didn't race like it," Assistant Head Coach Robert Young said. "Our strength looks to be the tightness of our pack and that was on display today."
Tech bested Division I programs Milwaukee (68 points) and Green Bay (134 points).
Hannah Loughlin continued to make strides, placing third overall just shy of running sub 22:00 for the 6k course, clocking in at 22:01.8. Her performance is a 47 second personal-best for 6k.
Freshman Sophia Rhein was the second finisher for Michigan Tech for the second consecutive race, placing 11th in 22:39.9.
Mady VanWieren ran within 10 seconds of her personal-best to be the third Husky across the finish line in 11th (23:10.0). Cedar Gordon also had a massive personal-best of thirty seconds, running 23:27.2 to score 17 points for Michigan Tech.
Freshman Amyla Eberhart rounded out the scorers, finishing just outside of top-20 with her 21st place, knocking a minute off her 6k time, running 23:33.8.
Alisa Teige (24:38.7) and Claire Endres (24:57.6) placed sixth and seventh for the Huskies, respectively.
In the men's race, Michigan Tech placed its scoring runners within the top-15 finishers. In fact, the Huskies' top-seven all were within the top-15 placers. The average time was a blistering 25:27.
Following Ringhand's victory, Nick McKenzie held down the second spot for the Huskies with his 25:26.6 efforts, placing him seventh in the race.
The Huskies found success in pack running, with the next finishers from Tech coming in pairs.
"Our men's team depth showed through today with some significant turnover in our scorers from last week," Young mentioned. "This competition within our squad is a huge asset as we train and means we will likely have a strong showing every time out."
Stephen Loparo and Naseem Dhaouadi placed ninth (25:30.9) and 10th (25:32.1), respectively.
Dhaouadi's time is a new personal-best.
Sam Marshall (25:40.4) and Henry Snider (25:43.5) also finished close to one another, placing 13th and 14th overall. Marshall's result marked his first time under 26 and a big personal-best.
Callen Carrier set a massive personal-best to round out the top-seven with his time of 25:46.9.
"Both teams picking up a trophy is the perfect jump start to the season," Young added. "We have lots of positive momentum we can build on now."
Up Next
The Huskies will return to the races on Sept. 22, traveling to the historic Roy Griak Invitational hosted by University of Minnesota. The men will look to defend their team title in the maroon race at 12:30 p.m. with the women to follow in the maroon race at 1:15 p.m.