Pioneers win UW-Whitewater titles

Led by individual champions Patrick Klein and Ann Tank, the UW-Platteville men's and women's cross country teams swept the UW-Whitewater Invitational Saturday.

In their first action of the year, the seventh-ranked Pioneer men scored 30 points to beat the runner-up host Warhawks by five points in the eight-school meet.

Coach Tom Antczak's women, ranked 10th in the NCAA III Midwest Region, had an even larger margin of victory, scoring 27 to runner-up Whitewater's 46.

Klein won by six seconds for the Pioneers, who had seven runners in the top 13. Klein covered the 8,000-meter course in 26:29.

Anthony Swimm was fourth in 26:53; Bill Clift seventh in 27:03; Nathan Petesch, eighth in 27:08; Shane Lacy, 10th in 27:15; Greg Alleman, 11th in 27:17; Matt Borneman, 12th in 27:22; and Scott Clark, 13th in 27:23. All-American Jason Garvens did not run Saturday but should return by next weekend's Griak Invitational in Minneapolis.

Ann and Alli Tank took the top two spots, and the sisters were separated by just two seconds, Ann winning in 23:54 over 6,000 meters. Gina Smith (sixth in 24:51) and Emily Flood (seventh in 25:01) added top 10 finishes, while Danielle Kunkel was 11th in 25:40 to round out the scoring. Carin Lowe (25:52) and Stephanie Dorton (25:59) were 16th and 17th, respectively.