Cross Country Women win at UW-Whitewater
Competing on a wet campus course from a previous night’s rain, the UW-Platteville Women were able to outrun the competition for the win at the inaugural Tom Hoffman Invitational at UW-Whitewater. The Pioneer women scored 37 points in the 7-team invitational beating Edgewood College by 13 points. Coach Tom Antczak was “proud of how the women were able to run almost 4 minutes faster than last year.” The women’s combined time was 3 minutes and 51 seconds faster than last year’s UW-Whitewater opener. A team’s combined time is calculated by adding the time of the top 5 runners.
Competing on a wet campus course from a previous night's rain, the UW-Platteville Women were able to outrun the competition for the win at the inaugural Tom Hoffman Invitational at UW-Whitewater. The Pioneer women scored 37 points in the 7-team invitational beating Edgewood College by 13 points. Coach Tom Antczak was "proud of how the women were able to run almost 4 minutes faster than last year." The women's combined time was 3 minutes and 51 seconds faster than last year's UW-Whitewater opener. A team's combined time is calculated by adding the time of the top 5 runners.
The women were led by Chelsey Heiden's 2nd place finish. Heiden (Jr., Greendale, Wis.) crossed the mile in 6thplace and easily worked her way to second place during the second mile. Heiden held off the competition for the remainder of the race and finished 14 seconds ahead of 3rd place. Heiden completed the 6 kilometer course in 23:45, her best season opener by over a minute. Carroll College's Megan Ludke led the race from start to finish winning with a time of 22:40. Freshman Janelle Ferguson (Rockford, Ill.) was the second pioneer to cross the finish line. Ferguson finished 5th with a time of 24:05. Rounding out the scoring top-5 for the Pioneers were 8th place Kiera Depies (24:29), 10th place Ashlynne Wampfler (25:09), and 12th place Katie Wardinski (25:13).
UW-Platteville Men's team finished the inaugural 8-team invitational with a second place finish. The men's 78 points came second to UW-Whitewater's 48. UW-Whitewater's Brett Harms won the men's 8 kilometer race by 15 seconds with a time of 26:46. "I was proud of how the men executed the race plan" said Coach Antczak. The men's top-12 runners ran side by side with the back-12 to help them through the race. The pioneer men were led by Mitchell Muffler (28:11, 13th), Zach Lee (28:11, 14th), Kyle Herbrand (28:19, 15th), Walker Rynes (28:20, 16th), and Nick Wagner (28:35, 20th). The varsity men are preparing themselves for two consecutive weeks of high competition against nationally ranked teams at Augustana College (September 25) and UW-Eau Claire (October 2).
