ROCK ISLAND, IL -- The Saints Men's cross country got their first taste of a nationally-ranked field, finishing 34th of 37 teams at the Interregional hosted by Augustana College in, Rock Island, IL.
Missing the nod to run in the championship race two weeks prior at the Pre-National meet at Carleton College, the Saints entered got their first ever start in a national ranking meet, since the at-large committee structure currently used to fill the NCAA DIII Championships team field was put in place in 2022. Regardless of the outcome, it was an historic moment for the Saints men's program.
The speed and depth of the field pulled the young team to start faster than is their custom.
Leading the way as he has in every meet this year, freshman Cadyn Vanderwal (Ortonville, MN/Ortonville High School) went out near the front of the field, hitting the mile mark in 28th place of 354 runner, in a blistering 4:53. It slowed from there, but hung on to finish just outside the top 100 in 116th, with a new 22-second improvement to his 8k personal best of 25:45.5, which moved him from tenth to seventh on the Saints men's all-time 8k list.
The men's race of the day went to sophomore Evan Bumgardner (Luverne, MN/Murray County Central HS), lopping an incredible one minute and two seconds off of his personal-best 8k, crossing the finish line in 26:24.0 for 213th place. With it, Bumgardner became the thirteenth fastest men's 8k runner in program history. Senior Ashton Niemi (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji HS) also struggled mid-race after an uncommonly quick first mile, but found his fight in the closing meters to run his fastest 8k ever by 37 seconds, finishing 252nd. Austin Matrious (Blaine, MN/Blaine High School) made it four for four of the Saints top scorers, posting a personal 21-second personal best of 26:42.0 finishing in 206th place. Freshman Adrian Rausch crossed the line in only his second 8k of his career, 28:04.0 for 330th place.
They were in good form with nearly their full scoring roster from Carleton intact. At the mile mark, the Saints sat in 32nd of the 35 teams, exposed by the blistering pacne of the elite field. But as the race wore on, the Saints women came roaring back from 31st at the halfway mark, to 25th with a kilometer to go, to end the day in 24th place.
Nationally-ranked #1 Wartburg, won with 64 points off the leading effort of individual champion Isaiah Hammerand, who won in 23:46.2. National #11 North Central (IL) put their top two runners in second and third individually to help surprise four programs higher-ranked teams coming into today's meet, off the cardianls double-low-stick Daniel Kasparan (23:51.3) finishing second, and BJ Sorg (23:52.0), Cardinals finising second place team with a score of 107, and surprising perennial powerhouse qnd national #4, UW La Crosse, who finished third with 121 points.
The Saints post at score 979 to finish 34th of 37 teams, were the 13th team from the North Region and third MIAC team.
The team will train through homecoming week as they prepare for the season's-highlight MIAC Conference Championship, October 31st at St. Olaf.
