October 29, 2005
Season Update: Dana’s men’s and women’s cross country teams
competed at the Great Plains Athletic Conference Championships on
Saturday in Mitchell, S.D. All 13 schools were represented in the team
standings for the women’s race, while only 10 teams scored in the men’s
race.
Season Bests: Seven Dana women and all three men ran season-best
times at the GPAC meet. The largest improvement came from Greg
Rickenbacher (3rd Yr, Tacoma, WA), who shaved over one full minute
off his previous season best time, finishing in 68th place
with a 29:57. It was also the first time Rickenbacher broke 30 minutes
for the 8K distance.
Depth: The women’s team was short a healthy Tabbi Kabala (2nd
Yr, Davenport, IA), who gutted out a 90th place finish
with a 23:22. Kabala had been in Dana’s top 5 all season. However, Dana
showed depth by placing runners 2-5 within 12 places of each other.
Senior Dru McMillan (4th Yr, Gillette, WY) led the Dana women as
she has done all year, finishing in 18th place with a time of
19:48- just three spots shy of All-Conference honors. Her sub-20:30
performance qualified her honors as an NAIA All-America Scholar Athlete.
Senior Lindsey Bliemeister (4th Yr, West Point, NE) ran a strong
last half of the 5k race, finishing 52nd with a 21:01. Jen
Anderson (2nd Yr, Lincoln, NE) finished in 21:25, good for ALL55th
place. Freshman Amy Jackman (1st Yr, Seward, NE) finished in 58th
place with a 21:34, her conference debut. Also running conference for
the first time, Alyssa Mueller (1st Yr, Seward, NE), finished 64th
with a 21:48. Senior Krystal Cary (4th Yr, Underwood, IA) ran her
strongest race of the year, finishing in 89th place with a
23:08. Christine Galata (1st Yr, Omaha/Marian) ran a season’s
best 23:59, good for 93rd place. Galata has improved her time
every meet this season. Freshman Tina Castle (1st YR, Farragut, IA)
rested a back injury and sat out the meet.
Season bests all around: Dana’s men’s team all set season best
times, along with Rickenbacher’s all-time personal record. Junior
John Kaup (3rd Yr, Grand Island, NE) led the Dana men with a 13th
place finish in a time of 26:51. Kaup’s finish earned him all-conference
honors. Sophomore Eric Bane (2nd Yr, Oakland, IA) moved well
throughout the field to finish 28th with a 27:48. Freshman
Billie Sidebottom (1st Yr, Council Bluffs, IA) sat out the invite,
resting an injury.
Weekly Quote from the coach: “Our women’s team is not the seventh
best team in the GPAC. We’re better than what we displayed Saturday. Our
pack time was good, but we were just too far back in the pack to make a
difference in the standings. I fully expect us to be a different team at
regionals. We had great individual performances from McMillan and Kaup,
and I expect they will make the trip to Louisville. This is our last
week of peaking, so we will be ready to go at Sioux Falls.”
Region III meet next: Dana will travel to
Sioux Falls, S.D. for the Region III National Qualifying meet this
Saturday. The team champion from the region meet earns an automatic
berth to the NAIA National Meet in Louisville, KY, which takes place on
Saturday, Nov. 19. At-large berths are chosen after all the regional
meets are completed. The top 7 individuals not on national bound teams
qualify for the national meet.
Complete Women’s results
can be found at:
http://www.dana.edu/cross_country/stats/gpac2005Women
Complete
Men’s results can be found at:
http://www.dana.edu/cross_country/stats/gpac2005Men
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
|
