Mixed results for Cross Country teams at UW-Oshkosh

The UW-Platteville Cross Country teams competed at the AAE Invitational in Winneconne, WI on Saturday morning. The UW-Oshkosh hosted invitational, one of the largest in Division 3, included 11 Nationally ranked Women's teams and 14 Nationally ranked Men's teams.

The women began the day with a 22nd place finish out of 46 teams. Despite 8 of the 14 competing Pioneers running personal bests, the Pioneers were not able to improve their regional standing. The No. 8 Regionally ranked pioneers finished behind 7 Midwest regionally ranked teams.

The women were led by Chelsey Heiden with a time of 22:29, which earned her 45th place out of 404 finishers. Heiden ran a very even pace with her first 3 miles in 6:03, 6:02, and 6:05. Heiden was able to accelerate into the last ¾ mile to finish 37 seconds ahead of her previous seasonal best. Heiden was followed by Kiera Depies (22:32, 49th), Janelle Ferguson (23:32, 161st), Hannah Ihlenfeldt (23:34, 166th), Ashlynne Wampfler (24:09, 228th), Katie Wardinski (24:12, 236th), and Teagan Seneczko (24:16, 242nd).

The men followed that performance by finishing 15th out of 45 teams. The men also finished behind 7 Midwest Regionally ranked teams despite 11 out of the 24 Pioneers running personal bests. The Pioneers did finish ahead of No. 4 Great Lakes Regionally ranked John Carroll University. The importance of beating ranked teams from other regions comes at the end of the season when the National Selection Committee decides which teams will qualify to the national meet.The National Selection Committee will look at performances from the NCAA Regional meet along with Regular season performances. A 5th place team in the Midwest Region would have a better chance of qualifying to nationals than a 3rd place team in the Central Region if that 5th place Midwest team beat the 3rd place Central team during the season.

The men were once again led by Ian LaMere (24:25). LaMere ran the first mile with the front pack before accelerating into the lead in the second mile. LaMere led the race until the final mile when UW-Eau Claire's Josh Thorson overtook LaMere with ½ mile left in the race. LaMere was not able to respond to Thorson and finished second in the 400+ person race. Following LaMere were Jason Winchel (25:36, 60th), Zach Lee (25:49, 88th), Dan LaCroix (26:15, 131st), Walker Rynes (26:24, 155th), Brian Rivers (26:28, 167th), and Chris Czech (26:40, 209th).

The Pioneers will be competing next at the same course for the WIAC Championships on October 31st.