UW-Platteville Men's and Women's Cross Country Team Wins Warhawk Invitational

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville men's cross country team won the Warhawk Invitational for the third-straight year on Saturday. The Pioneers won the eight-team race with five runners in the top eight.

Leading the Pioneers was Anthony Swimm, who covered the 8,000-meter course in 26:44 en route to a second place overall finish. He was just seven seconds behind individual champion, Mathias Werve of UW-Whitewater, who finished in 26:37.

The Pioneers swept fifth through eighth led by Bill Cliff, who finished fifth (26:57), followed by Matt Borneman and Derek Fahernkrug was sixth (27:01) and seventh (27:22), respectively. Bringing home eighth-place honors was junior Kyle Klein in 27:28. The youth of the program including freshmen Sam Poser and Dan LaCroix were ninth (27:36) and 10th (27:36), respectively in their UW-Platteville debut. Fellow newcomers Matt Smaga was 15th in 27:48 and Jordan Joaquin, who finished 19th in 27:57.

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville women's cross country team won the six-team Warhawk Invitational on Saturday to begin the 2011 season.

It is the second-straight year that the Pioneers have won the annual race in Whitewater. To win the title, the Pioneers edged host UW-Whitewater.

The Pioneers placed its first four runners in the top 10 including senior Ann Tank, who edged sophomore teammate Danielle Kunkel to win the 6,000-meter race in 23:57. Senior Stephanie Dorton and freshman Jocelyn Orner were sixth (24:43) and 10th (25:44), respectively. Just behind them were sophomore Olivia Bukowski and junior Carin Lowe were 13th (26:13) and 14th (26:14), respectively.

Other Pioneer finishers include freshman Lisa Kaiser was 18th in 26:21, freshman Meleana Bennin was 35th in 27:22, senior Michele Belling was 36th in 27:25, senior Katie Binning was 44th in 28:05, junior Ellyssa Moll was 50th in 28:34, sophomore Kristine Amundson was 53rd in 28:50 and freshman Chelsea Delzer was 59th in 29:25.

Next on the schedule for the Pioneers is the prestigious Roy Griak Invitational, hosted by the University of Minnesota.