Kylie Bridenhagen/Winonan

After running a successful conference meet two weekends ago, the Winona State University women’s cross country team returned to action Saturday racing at the National Collegiate Athletic Association Central Regional Championship meet in Joplin, Missouri. At this meet, they made school history.

The women’s head cross country coach, Adam Boothe, made sure that the team was in top form prior to this crucial meet.

“We have trained to get faster over these past two weeks, hopefully peaking at the Regional meet, and carrying through to Nationals,” said Boothe. Boothe said this training has paid off greatly, as the Warriors will be running at the NCAA National Championships for the first time as a team in program history.

At the Regional meet, the top five teams automatically make it through to the National meet, but this team was thinking top three—and this is exactly what happened. The five runners crossed the line with a total of 108 points, and received the second place title, beating the third place team, University of Mary, who finished with 149 points. Augustana had only 29 points, and took home the NCAA Central Region Championship title.

Over 170 runners in the Regional Championship, and the top five Warrior runners all finished in the top-50. As a team, they beat their previous season at the NSIC Championships.

The top runner of the day for Winona was Jessica Young, who finished eighth in 21:24.8. Jordan Skelly and Kayla Gudmundson were also in the top-20.

Skelly finished in 21:52.2, which put her in 13th place. Gudmundson was 19th with a time of 21:59.5.

The fourth runner, Megan Snyder, finished her race in 22:17.4 and in 27th place. Chelsea Schrubbe was the fifth runner.

She completed her race in a time of 22:33.0, good for 41st place overall.

Taking home the individual title was Runa Falch, from Augustana, who ran in a time of 20:39.4. Melissa Agnew of University of Mary was second with 20:48.9. Rounding out the top three, also from Augustana, was Leah Black, who finished in 20:49.0.

Look for the women Warriors in their historic debut at the NCAA National meet in Joplin, Missouri on Nov. 17.

“Cross country isn’t always the most popular sport, but I’d like to think that people in Winona would take notice of any team that’s among the best in the nation for Division II. This is a special group of young women that can go far, not only this season but for years to come,” says Boothe.

The men’s cross country team also ran at this Central Regional meet, but not with the same results; unfortunately, there will be no individuals or team representing Winona State University at this year’s national meet. But, this does not mean they went down without effort and a fight.

With over 160 runners racing, the Warriors were still able to finish among the top-20 as a team. They finished in 16th with a combined team total of 444 points.

Minnesota State was third with 108 points.

In second, with 98 points was Missouri State. The meet champions were also from Augustana. Their team total was 31 points.

Billy Eifert was the top runner for the Warriors. He crossed the finish line in 31:53.9, which put him in 57th place overall.

Nick Couillard completed his race in a time of 32:45.4. This time put him in 86th overall.

Right behind Couillard was David Lund, in 87th place, with a time of 32:46.5. Shane Carlson was 104th with 33:12.2. The final runner for Winona was Clay Scott. He finished in 110th with 33:23.8.

Teammates Travis Beniak and Adam Braun, from Augustana finished one-two in times of 29:57.3 and 30:10.5 respectively.

The third place runner overall was Cory Keehn from Fort Hays State, with a time of 30:22.8.

Contact Kylie at [email protected]