September 24, 2005
Season Update: Dana’s men’s and women’s cross
country teams competed at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis
on Saturday.
The meet is the largest cross country meet in all of college running
this season. The women finished in 18th place out of 28 teams.
The men’s team did not score.
A little slippery: Saturday’s
forecast did not favor fast times for the Griak Invite. Thunderstorms
outside Minneapolis threatened
postponement of the meet, but no delays were necessary. The women’s
race saw sprinkles to moderate rain showers, while a continuous
downpour followed in the men’s 8k race.
Dana Women move through
field: Dru McMillan (4th Yr, Gillette, WY) again led the Dana women
in their final 6k race of the season,
with
a time of 25:10, good for 68th place out of 336 runners. McMillan
was followed by Tabbi Kabala (2nd Yr, Davenport, IA), who moved
through the field well to finish 91st with a 26:04. Jen Anderson
(2nd Yr,
Lincoln, NE/Lincoln Lutheran) was Dana’s third runner with
a 26:20, placing her 106th in team scoring. Both Kabala and Anderson
set new personal records for the 6k distance. Senior Lindsey Bliemeister
(4th Yr, West Point, NE) finished 128th with a 26:56, running her
5K split much faster than her last Roy Griak appearance in 2002.
Freshman Amy Jackman (1st Yr, Seward, NE) rounded out the team
scoring, finishing 132nd with a 27:10.
Another freshman Seward
sensation, Alyssa Mueller (1st Yr, Seward,
NE), finished in 137th place with a 27:17. Krystal Cary (4th
Yr, Underwood, IA) continued to be a strong seventh runner, finishing
in 255th with a 28:31. Rounding out the competition for Dana
were
freshmen Chrissy Galata (1st Yr, Omaha, NE/Marian) and Tina Castle
(1st Yr, Farragut, IA), finishing with a 29:27 and 29:57, respectively.
Both Galata and Castle ran similar times from the Woody Greeno
meet last week, a course that was much drier and faster than
Minnesota.
Men Battle Through Showers: The men’s maroon race saw a major
downpour that lasted the duration of the 8k distance, ending soon
after the men crossed the finish line. John Kaup (3rd Yr, Grand
Island, NE) led the Dana men again with a strong 27:28, earning
him NAIA
Academic All-American honors. Eric Bane (2nd Yr, Oakland, IA) ran
28:28, placing him 205th. Bane ran near even splits, despite the
pouring rain. Perhaps the best display of a kick the men’s
team has seen all year, freshman Billie Sidebottom (1st Yr, Council
Bluffs/Abraham Lincoln) plowed through the final 200 meters, finishing
in 354th with a 31:13. On Sidebottom’s heels was junior Greg
Rickenbacher (3rd Yr, Tacoma, WA), who finished 358th with a 31:23.
Rickenbacher held off a pack of six runners in the final 100 meters.
Weekly Quote from the coach: “The women got out much better
than we previously have. When we begin peaking, we’ll be
able to keep that pace throughout the race. We dominated a team
that beat
us pretty handily last week. This was our last 6k, so now we can
focus on the shorter 5k distance. The men showed great mental toughness
as they sloshed through the rain. Kaup ran a great last two miles
to pick up his first NAIA Academic All-American title, after looking
in trouble at the first mile. Everyone, men and women, displayed
great final kicks, which in large meets can make a big difference.”
Homecoming:
Dana will host the annual Homecoming Meet, which will honor the
accomplishments of the 1995 Cross Country Team. A plaque
will be presented to the first Dana team to qualify for the national
cross country meet. Former Coach Jay Birmingham is being honored
for his achievements while coaching at Dana, with the naming of
Dana’s
new trail “The Birmingham Footpath.”
Leslie Rasmussen, sports information director, (402) 426-7298,
lrasmuss@dana.edu
—
or —
Shad Beam, assistant sports information director, (402) 426-7389,
sbeam@dana.edu
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