Cross Country Teams set to race for UMAC Title Saturday in New Ulm
Video Preview: St. Scholastica Coach Steve Pfingsten
ST. PAUL – Flandreau State Park in New Ulm, Minn. will play host to eight men’s and eight women’s teams who will race in the 2012 Upper Midwest Athletic Conference Men’s and Women’s Cross Country Championships this Saturday. Both College of St. Scholastica teams will look to defend their titles after claiming the men’s and women’s championships in 2011.
The College of St. Scholastica, who was predicted to win both titles in the preseason poll, has won the women’s title the last 11 years and the men’s title the last three years. Junior Chelsea Johnson leads the pack for the Saints women. After finishing in third place and being named to the UMAC All-Conference team at the 2011 Championship, Johnson has continued to shave seconds off of her time throughout the 2012 season, running a personal best time of 21:47 at the UW-Oshkosh Brooks Invite. Johnson is joined by three-time All-Conference performer senior Kristi Gronbeck and sophomores Molly Burgstahler and Izzy Plantenberg who both earned All-Conference honors in 2011. For the men, the Saints return junior Ethan Schubert who earned All-Conference honors by finishing seventh at the 2011 conference race. Schubert is joined by junior Charlie Habbermann and newcomer Chris Lawson, who have both been key runners for the Saints so far this season.
The University of Minnesota Morris closely followed St. Scholastica in both preseason polls and looks to challenge St. Scholastica for the trophy. The Cougar women, who finished second place at the 2011 Championship return three-time UMAC Individual Champion and All-Conference runner Linda Keller who appears primed to retain that title for a fourth time. Keller was the first to cross the finish line at the St. Olaf Invitational with a time of 21:57. The men’s team has had a successful fall season thanks in part to freshman campaign of standout Chalmer Comellick who placed first at the Martin Luther Invitational, also held at Flandreau State Park, earlier this month with a time of 28:08. The Cougars also return sophomore Martin Zias, who finished in sixth place and earned All-UMAC honors at the 2011 Championship.
Northland College returns 2011 UMAC Men’s Cross Country Individual Champion and All-Conference runner, sophomore Adam Zias who led the Lumberjacks to a second-place finish at last year’s Championship finishing with a time of 26:07, almost a full minute ahead of the next fastest runner. At the Wisconsin Private Schools Championship race earlier this month, Zias finished in first place with a time of 26:08. Joining Zias are seniors and 2011 All-UMAC runners Kelsey Barra and Joe Zant. The Lumberjills will look to build on their fifth-place finish from a year ago by breaking into the top four at this year’s Championship. The Northland women are led by senior Katherine Boyk who was the first Lumberjill to cross the finish line at last year’s Championship.
After finishing third at the 2011 Championship, the Martin Luther College women, who were ranked third in the preseason poll, return their top nine runners from last year’s squad and look to again be in the title hunt in 2012 with senior Robin Nommensen and sophomore Emily Kolz, who finished fourth and eighth respectively in 2011, looking to repeat their 2011 All-Conference performances as they lead the way for the Knights. The Martin Luther men will look to top their 2011 finish of seventh place behind the team’s top runner from a year ago, Noah Willitz.
The Northwestern College men’s team hopes to improve upon their fifth place finish at the 2011 Championship after losing just one senior to graduation from last year’s team. The Eagles return two-time All-Conference runner, senior Derek Schlager who finished fifth at the UMAC Championship a year ago and has consistently been the Eagles’ first runner across the finish line throughout the 2012 campaign. A young Northwestern women’s team, who finished fourth a year ago and ranked fourth in the preseason poll, is paced by sophomores Allie Hadley, a 2011 All-Conference performer, Danea Zeigle and junior Sammy Wong.
The Rams of North Central University return five of their top seven runners from their 2011 women’s team and hope to improve on last year’s sixth place finish with the addition of freshmen Annalise Schroder and Jacie Jawaski. Schroder and Jawaski have been the first of the Rams to cross the finish line so far in 2012. The North Central men’s team, who tied with Northwestern College for a fourth place in the preseason poll, returns only one of their top five runners from a year ago. The team will depend on the continued improvement of sophomores Sutton Rehwaldt and Jake Guttormson as well as senior Austin Muchow as they look to better their fourth place finish from 2011.
The Bethany Lutheran men will look to best last year’s sixth place behind a freshmen duo consisting of Chavis Curley and Carl Wold who have led the Vikings across the finish line so far in 2012. The Bethany Lutheran women also look to improve upon their 2011 finish. The team, who came in seventh place a year ago, had several runners set personal bests at the Martin Luther Invitational earlier this month and hopes for the same result in the Championship race. Juniors Bre Perlwitz and Marta Krause and sophomore Alissa Sauer will look to lead the way for the Vikings.
The Crown College Storm rounded out both the men’s and women’s field at the 2011 Championship. With the top runners from both teams returning and a new head coach, the Storm men and women look to improve upon last year’s finish with senior Vince Elmhorst and freshmen Joshua Wedermeier leading the pack for the men. Freshman Sarah Holmquist will look to make an impact in her first UMAC Championship race for the Crown women.
The men’s championship race will begin at 12 p.m. on Saturday, followed by the women’s start at 1 p.m. Please visit the
2012 UMAC Cross Country Championship webpage for more information.