Last Saturday, the Gustavus Men’s and Women’s Cross Country teams traveled to Northfield for the much anticipated MIAC Conference meet. Being that the race is one of the highlights of the season, there was much excitement amongst the Gustie runners all season long leading up to the meet. The Men’s team finished in eighth place, while the Gustie women finished in fourth place. Overall, the team was happy with how things went.
“I was pleased with how we competed at conference. Everyone gave their best effort, and that’s really all you can ask for. We had a lot of people run their best race of the season,” Head Coach Brenden Huber said.
First-year Andrew Stumbo led the way for the Gustie men by finishing in fifth place. Seniors Sadie Klug and Olivia Rosenow were the top two runners on the women’s team. Klug finished in ninth place, while Rosenow finished in 23rd.
“On the men’s side, Andrew Stumbo had a breakout performance finishing fifth in the conference as a First-year. Our seniors led the way on the ladies side with Sadie Klug finishing ninth and Olivia Rosenow placing 23rd. To have an individual place in the top ten on either side is a great day because our conference has some amazing runners,” Huber said. The strong performances by Klug and Stumbo earned each of them All-Conference honors. Rosenow also earned All-Conference honorable mention honors.
“It feels awesome to have All-Conference honors, as last year I missed it by a few places, and it is great to see how the hard work I put in over the summer and the season is paying off,” Klug said. For all of the seniors on the team, including Klug, this was the last Conference meet of their collegiate cross country careers. However, as one major race concluded, the team’s focus quickly shifted onto their next big task; Regionals.
“We finish up our season with the Central Region Meet, which is on November 11th at Carleton College. If things go well enough, we may either have some individuals or a team moving onto the National meet, which is the following weekend,” Huber said. The Gusties are hoping for great results at the meet.
“Now that Conference is over, we will be preparing for the Regional meet. At regions, we can qualify for the national meet by being one of the top two teams or getting a bid. We will race to perform well,” Klug said.
As the days get shorter and the temperature gets colder, the Gustie runners hope to continue enjoying their fun and successful season all the way until its conclusion.