The Viterbo cross country teams were able to cap off an impressive season on both the men’s and women’s side at nationals on April 9 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The V-Hawks had an admirable performance by the women at conference, winning the conference title and advancing their team to nationals. On the men’s side they were able to come up and finish third and advance two people to the national meet to represent Viterbo.
At the national meet on April 9, the women’s team finished 33 out of 35 teams with a score of 990 at nationals. The women’s team was bolstered by some good performances coming from their young core. Leading the way for the V-Hawks, was first-year student Vanessa Thomas from Madison, Wis.. She was the first to cross the finish line for the V-Hawks in 245th place out of 326 runners that were entered. She finished with a time of 20:38.56, which is not too far of her season best. The second person to cross the finish line for the V-Hawks was Sophomore Brenna McDonough, from Sheboygan, Wis. She crossed the line 264th with a time of 20:57.91, just missing her season best time by 2 seconds. Not far behind was sophomore Sophie Leinfelder; She finished 269th with a time of 21:03.60.
First-year athlete Ellie Nygren, from Waterville, Minn., finished 299th with a time of 21:49.73. She was followed close behind by junior Lauren Herzog, from Gillett, Wis., finishing 301st with a time of 21:53.67. Sophomore, from Fennimore, Wis., Madelyn Adam finished 304th with a time of 22:00.36. Finishing out the V-Hawks squad was junior Mya Snyder, from Waupaca, Wis., who placed 310th with a time of 22:31.34.
Despite the championships being pushed back to March, the women’s team was able to go out and represent Viterbo at the national meet. This marked the second time the Viterbo women’s cross–country team has won conference and resulted in nationals. The last time this was done was in 2010. The was an impressive feat for the women’s team who are primarily made up of really young talent.
On the men’s side the V-Hawks saw two people qualify for the meet and represent Viterbo. The first V-Hawk to cross the line was junior, from Monroe, Wis., Drake Ingold in a new personal best of 25:58.22 in the 8k race. He crossed the line 79th out of 319 runners. His running partner senior, from Onalaska, Wis., Isaiah Sample crossed the line 165th with a time of 26:56.06. Drake’s finish in 79th place marks the best placement in the history of the program at nationals. He also holds the all-time best 8K in Viterbo history. This was an impressive showing from the V-Hawks in a very difficult season to navigate.
Next year, the women’s team will be returning all their runners, adding some fresh new runners, with hope of capturing the program’s third conference title. The men’s team will look to improve on their third–place finish by adding more runners to the roster, one senior graduating this season. Overall, the future for each team is bright with the amount of young talent that they are bringing in.
