X-Country runs through season

Men finish tenth at National meet

Kelcey Zutavern
Staff Writer
Dec. 2, 2004, Page 6

The Doane men's cross country team raced through the mud to their best finish in school history at the NAIA National Meet in Louisville, Ky. The Tigers used strong individual performances to finish in 10th place.
"All of the men turned in solid performances," coach Brad Jenny said. "It was a nice solid team effort."
The Tigers were led by senior Sam Malmberg, who just missed becoming an All-American with his 35th place finish in a time of 25:48.95. The top 30 runners receive All-American status. Senior Danny McClenahan finished 85th (26:33.20), senior Robin Witte finished 102nd (26:40.75), sophomore Adam Lippold finished 108th (26:48.05), freshman Josh Peavy finished 126th (27:00.85), sophomore Colin Johnston finished 149th (27:13.00) and senior Jared Hansmeyer finished 181st (27:37.60).
On the women's side, sophomore Cortney Johansen used a time of 19:50.25 to finish in 116th place. Junior Anne Dreyer finished 144th with a time of 20:02.55. Jenny said he was pleased with the performances.
"Cortney Johansen ran a very competitive race and got a good experience out of her first national meet," Jenny said.
Dreyer said she was disappointed with her performance.
"I had a lot of problems with my stomach and it was frustrating to be in good shape but not be able to run like it," Dreyer said.
Several athletes also received recognition for their outstanding performances in the classroom. The men's team finished 3rd in the academic team competition with a 3.62 combined grade point average. Runners of junior or senior status with a 3.50 GPA earned NAIA Scholar Athlete awards. Malmberg, Witte, Hansmeyer, Johnston and Dreyer all received this award.
Jenny said he was optimistic about the future of the cross country program. He said the women's team was young this year and he hoped the team would qualify next year.
"The two that qualified for nationals will both be back next year," Jenny said. "We are hoping to add a few new recruits to the mix and get the team to the national meet next year."
He said the men's team would miss the seniors, but there were some younger runners who stepped up and would be expected to lead the team.
"We will definitely miss a strong senior class but we have hopefully started something with this year's finish," Jenny said.