Walpole leads Wisconsin-Superior to repeat UMAC Men's Cross Country title
BENSON, Minn.---Heading into the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Men's Cross Country Championships, determining a winner was going to be a challenge as three teams were neck-and-neck throughout the fall.
On race day, though, the title was never in question as the University of Wisconsin-Superior solidly held off Martin Luther College and the College of St. Scholastica to win its second-consecutive conference title Saturday.
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Men's Results |
Championships Site |
Led by senior Evan Walpole, the Yellowjackets raced to a team victory as they outpaced the Knights by 16 points finishing with 40 points and three top-10 finishers. Walpole became the third-straight Yellowjacket to win the men's title as he outran the next competitor by seven seconds clocking 26:10.0.
The Yellowjackets' success also came thanks to solid performances from Rand Bieri and Sam Smith who finished sixth and eighth, respectively. The Yellowjackets also took 13-14-15 with Alex Binfet, Harrison Hirsch and Zachary Mazurek ran within nine seconds of one another. Binfet and Hirsch were separated by hundredths of a second clocking times of 27:29.3, while Mazurek ran 27:38.7.
Martin Luther recorded 56 points and had three runners in the top seven. The Knights were led by Ben Bitter who ran 26:17.2 to finish as the race's runner up. Ryan Gurgel finished fourth with a time of 26:30.2, while Justin Wilkens crossed the line seventh with a time of 27:12.6.
St. Scholastica nearly overtook the Knights before settling for third place with a score of 60 points. The Saints were led by Isaac Boedigheimer who as third (26:19.5) and Easton Foss who placed fifth (26:35.3). Cam Pearson also helped the Saints plaing 11th with a time of 27:22.3.
The University of Minnesota Morris turned in a solid fourth place team finish with 77 points and two top 15 finishers in David Roanhorse and Raymond Abraham. Roanhorse raced to 10th with a time of 27:20.9 and Abraham finished in 27:53.3.
The standings rounded out with Bethany Lutheran College in fifth (153), North Central University in sixth (169), Northland College in seventh (205) and Crown College in eighth (226). Jackson Peterson from the University of Northwestern also placed ninth with a time of 27:19.4.
| Standings |
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| Team |
Score |
| 1. Wisconsin-Superior |
40 |
| 2. Martin Luther |
56 |
| 3. St. Scholastica |
60 |
| 4. Minnesota Morris |
77 |
| 5. Bethany Lutheran |
153 |
| 6. North Central |
169 |
| 7. Northland |
205 |
| 8. Crown |
226 |
| 9. Northwestern |
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