Alexandria Carter/ Winonan
Winona State University men and women’s cross country team finished their regular season after competing in the Drews-Neubauer Invitational on Saturday — an annual cross country meet in honor of Jim Drews and Tori Neubauer, former University of Wisconsin- La Crosse All-Americans and national champions.
The 8,000-meter course for men (Jim Drews Race) and a 6,000-meter course for women (Tori Neubauer Race) took place on Saturday, Oct. 18 at the Maple Grove Country Club Ettrick in Ettrick, Wis.
The Winona State men’s cross country team closed its regular season placing 13th out of 27 teams in the Jim Drews Race with a score of 385.
Winona State’s top finisher for the men’s team was junior Shane Carlson, clocking in at 26:29.12 to finish 59th in the meet.
Freshman Max Gonzalez crossed the finish line with a time of 26:36 to finish 73rd. Junior Nick Couillard followed two spots back with a time of 26:37, placing 75th.
Freshman Reed Parent finished 93rd with a time of 26:49 and senior Billy Eifert finished 107th with a time of 26:55 to round out the Warriors top five finishers.
Junior Benjamin Clausen and senior Sam Westerberg also ran in the meet. Clausen finished with a time of 27:06 placing 109th, and Westerberg finished with a time of 27:10 placing 111th.
The Winona State women’s cross country team finished its regular season with a second place finish in the Tori Neubauer Race with a score of 115.
Out of the 30 teams, the Warriors finished behind host school Wisconsin-La Crosse, with the College of St. Benedict in third, the University of St. Thomas in fourth and the University of Minnesota in fifth.
Winona State had six of its seven runners finish in the top 50 out of the 453 runners in the invitational.
Senior Jordan Skelly paced the way for the Warriors and crossed the finish line at 22:15.29 to place eighth.
Junior Jordan Paschke finished second for the Warriors with a time of 22:45.08 and place 14th overall.
Senior Chelsea Schrubble was 23rd overall with a time of 23:00, sophomore Amanda Kaiser finished in 25th place with a time of 23:03 and sophomore Kate Simonet finished 45th with a time of 23:25 to round out Winona State’s top five finishers.
Freshman Raissa Hansen finished with a time of 23:29 placing 50th and sophomore Madeline Martell finished with a time of 23:30 placing 52nd to round out the Warrior runners in the meet.
Men and women’s cross county head coach Brett Ayers said, “ Everyone just tries to get better every meet.”
The women’s cross county team has been run at the national championship the last two years. Coach Ayers said this year the women’s team wants to go back and finish top ten.
“We have a really good shot,” Ayers said.
The men’s team has never been to the national championship. Ayers said this year they want to finish top three as a team at the NISC Championship and then go to the NCAA Central Region Championship to compete for a chance race at the national meet.
The Warriors return to action in the NSIC Championship on Nov. 8 in Wayne, Neb. The men’s team is set to start at 10:30 a.m., with the women’s race starting one hour later.
