NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the MIAC Championships on Saturday. The Gustie women took third out of 11 teams and the men took fourth out of 10 teams. Carleton won the men’s team championship, while St. Olaf won the women’s title.
“The results were not what we wanted but the effort was absolutely there,” Head Coach Brenden Huber said. “We took our shot and we have nothing to hang our heads on. We gave it our best effort and it wasn’t a failure because we left everything on the course.”
As he has done all season, Andrew Stumbo (Sr., Boone, Iowa) highlighted the men’s squad by taking 12th place in 25:46.0, earning his fourth All-Conference honor. Stumbo is the first Gustavus men’s cross country runner to earn All-MIAC honors all four years. Garet Grant (Sr., Winona) also earned All-Conference honors with a 13th place finish in 25:46.4. This is Grant’s second All-MIAC honor.
Henry Hinchcliffe (Jr., Austin) took 20th in 26:08.9 to earn All-Conference honorable mention. Casey Olson (Sr., Harmony) joined Hinchcliff as honorable mention by finishing 24th in 26:16.6. Bryce Knutson (Sr., Owatonna) rounded out the team scoring with a 30th place finish in 26:30.3.
The Gustie women were led by an All-Conference performance by Elizabeth Donnelly (Sr., Langley, Wash.), taking 10th place in 23:21.7. Evelyn Villalobos (So., Crystal) also earned All-MIAC, taking 15th place in 23:28.1.
Mackinzee Miest (Sr., Saint James) earned honorable mention with 19th place finish in 23:43.5. Illiana Ramon (Sr, Fairmont) and Julia Severson (Jr., St. Cloud) were just outside of honorable mention, taking 26th and 27th, respectively, in 24:14.0 and 24:14.4.
“They ran for each other and it was a team-first effort,” Huber said. “Every kid was out there running a championship style race. We couldn’t ask much more out of this group. They did everything they could.”
The Gusties will compete at the Saint John’s Fall Finale next Friday afternoon before running at the NCAA regional on Nov. 13 in Eau Claire, Wis.