October 5, 2005

BLAIR, NEB. — Each year the Viking Cross Country team hosts a meet as part of the Dana College Homecoming festivities. Former Viking runners return to compete against Dana’s current runners and teams from other Great Plains Athletic Conference schools. This year’s meet was held Saturday.

Dana’s current cross country runners prevailed. Vikings John Kaup (Grand Island, Neb.) and Dru McMillan (Gillette, Wyo.) cruised to first-place finishes. Kaup’s time in the men’s 8k race was 28:17.00. McMillan completed the women’s 5k in 20:59.

“ We are progressing just as we should be,” said Head Coach Derek Fey, on this year’s Viking team. “On average, each athlete ran a minute-and-a-half faster than their time from the Dana Open on Sept. 3. Tina (Castle, Farragut, Iowa) and Billie (Sidebottom, Council Bluffs, Iowa) knocked 5 minutes off their Dana Open times, and (Eric) Bane (Oakland, Iowa) improved his time by 4 minutes.”

Several former Viking runners also competed in the meet. The alumni men’s team of John Tripp, Ben Sandy, Scott Stanley, and Shane Jackman edged out the current Dana men’s team by 1 point for second place.

“ Dana’s course is difficult,” said Fey, who recently re-routed portions of the course and worked to improve the footings.

The new and improved trail was unveiled at Homecoming and named Birmingham Footpath in honor of former Dana College Cross Country Coach Jay Birmingham.

Birmingham participated in the celebration. He was also reunited with his 1995 team: Chad Grosse, Max Gravy, Ryan Jacobsen, Ben Sandy and Evan Bees. The 1995 team was the first Dana College Men’s Cross Country team to qualify for Nationals. This year marks the 10th anniversary of their accomplishment. Coach Fey presented the team with a plaque, which is now on display in the trophy case in Dana’s Gardner-Hawks Center.

Complete Women’s results can be found at: http://www.dana.edu/cross_country/stats/WomenResultsHomecoming.htm

Complete Men’s results can be found at: http://www.dana.edu/cross_country/stats/MenResultsDana.htm

For more information, contact:
Leslie Rasmussen, sports information director, (402) 426-7298, lrasmuss@dana.edu
— or —
Shad Beam, assistant sports information director, (402) 426-7389, sbeam@dana.edu