WOMEN'S TEAM RESULTS | WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
MEN'S TEAM RESULTS | MEN'S INDIVIDUAL RESULTS
SPOKANE, Wash. - Augustana is the NCAA Division II women's cross country national champion. The Vikings earned the program's first national title and the school's second overall team national championship with their stellar performance at the NCAA Championships Saturday in Spokane, Wash.
Augustana netted just 75 points at a snowy Plantes Ferry Athletic Complex. The Vikings beat runner-up Western State (Colo.) by just four points.
The national title is the first for Augustana since 1991 when the softball team was the national champion.
The Viking men finished sixth with 210 points. WSC won with 27 points.
Leah Hansen led the Vikings Saturday, finishing 12th and running the 6,000-meter course in 21:40.40.
Runa Falch finished directly behind her teammate in 21:42.40;
Kristin Brondbo (21:47.90) and
Kyle Blakeslee (21:53.30) rounded out this cluster of Augustana runners by finishing 15th and 18th, respectively.
Kelly Kougl finished scoring by placing 29th in 22:08.40.
Said head coach
Tracy Hellman: "We needed everyone to perform today, and we got exactly that. It's an unbelievable and special feeling that's hard to put into words. We ran the perfect strategic race and controlled the event. Augustana is on the map!"
All five of the Vikings' scoring runners earned All-America honors.
Augustana was forced to deal with less-than-ideal weather conditions. Snowy and cold conditions persisted throughout the race--a factor Hellman said didn't come into play much for his Vikings.
“We were ready for any type of conditions" Hellman said. "We were so incredibly focused on what we needed to do."
Other Viking women's runners included
Annie Pfeifle, who placed 46th in 22:34.60, and Maddy Jourgensen, who took 108th in 23:49.90.
An 11th-place finish by
Paul Yak paced the men to their sixth-place finish. The effort tied the best national finish by the men in their program history; Augustana also gained identical honors a year ago.
Yak covered the 10,000-meter route in 31:33.50. He was followed by
Ryan Evans, who placed 32nd with a time of 31:57.40. Yak and Evans each earned All-America status for the first time in their careers.
Tom Karbo finished 45th (32:14.80), Adam Braun placed 68th (32:49.80) and
Jordan Slusser came in 91st (33:21.30).
"We had an exceptional outing by our men today," Hellman said. "I knew the guys were ready, and they executed a sound mental game plan.
"Yak ran out of his mind. He's becoming one of the nation's best runners. And
Ryan Evans told me before the race he was going to be an All-American. He delivered on that."
The remaining Augustana runners were TJ Gleason (116th, 33:47.90) and
Halvard Lange (123rd, 33:53.20).
The combined finishes by the women's and men's teams makes 2011 the most successful year in Augustana cross country history.
"This is going to catapult our programs to bigger things," Hellman said. "It's a special day we'll never forget, and nobody can ever take this away from us."
