Cross Country

MEQUON, Wis. – Mount Mary has been one of the most consistent cross country teams in the area this season, and it showed at Saturday's Wisconsin Private College Championships this past weekend on the campus of Concordia-Wisconsin.

The Blue Angels raced their way into the top half of the 16-team field, finishing in eighth place.

"Yesterday, our runners not only proved their competitiveness, but more importantly they displayed maturity and the ability to face unexpected challenges," head coach Eugene Miranda said.

The event, hosted by Wisconsin Lutheran College but on the campus of CUW, was originally slated for a noon start, but was changed last-minute to an 11 am start. The Blue Angels, despite a 25-minute warm-up, nonetheless turned in one of its best races of the season.

Four individuals set a new personal record for a 6-kilometer race and two more shaved off considerable time from their first race on the same course just over a month ago.

Most notably, senior Emily Barker (Oconomowoc, Wis.) set a new school record time of 24:22.9, which placed her ninth out of 133 runners.

Freshman Natalie Guyette (Shiocton, Wis.) and sophomore Danielle Scherrer (Milwaukee, Wis.) also set respective PR's with times of 27:01.1 and 28:23.9 to each finish within the top 60 scoring individuals.

Freshman Hayley Hove (Golden Valley, Minn.) shaved over two minutes off her time on the same course at the Falcon Invite on Sept. 14. Freshman Grace Rock (Kouts, Ind.) improved 51 seconds from earlier this season.

"A comparison of the two races run on this same course this season shows the vast improvement made by our runners despite being shocked with an unexpected starting time for the race," Miranda said.

Mount Mary improved considerably from last year's 12th place WPCC meet finish in Beloit, and they will look to continue improving until the NCAA Midwest Regional Championship race in Rock Island, Ill., in mid-November.