The UCA men’s and women’s cross-country teams traveled to the NCAA South Central Region Championship for an event that ended in numerous new personal records.
The men’s team finished 17th out of 25 teams with 439 points, and the women’s team finished 13th out of 24 with 383 points.
“Our women’s team made a huge jump in improvement from a year ago. The best part about it was that it was a group effort. All of our young women lined up and competed hard, and it showed in the team results,” Danae Weaver, cross-country assistant coach, said.
Junior Madeline Hill led the women’s team in the 6K race, finishing 36th with a time of 21:40.9.
Following in her footsteps were juniors Felisa Saheib, finishing 73rd, and Ali Nachtigal, finishing 94th out of 180 athletes.
Hill put in countless hours of training to prepare for the event and is pleased with her placements.
“I am very happy with how I ran this season. I ran several personal bests and I have been able to place higher than I ever have in the past. My time I ran at regionals was a little slower than I was hoping for, but in championship races, the focus is more on what place you get, and I was happy with how I placed for our team,” Hill said.
The women showed signs of improvement this competition season, and that didn’t come from a lack of hard work or dedication.
“I don’t think any other team in the region improved more in one year than we did. A few of our runners were out sick or with injuries for this race as well, so our performance really shows the depth of our team and how our girls that were running really stepped up this weekend,” Hill said.
The men’s team held their own as well, with two runners finishing in the top 100 out of 172 in the 10K race, setting personal record times as they went.
Junior Pete Johnson ran a 31:07.6, and junior Jack Dingman was on his heels, finishing twenty seconds later at 31:27.5.
The two men also garnered spots on the UCA record list for the top five 10K times — Johnson is sitting at third and Dingman at fourth.
Johnson, who has been running for 10 years, is proud of his work throughout the season and the efforts he’s taking to better his strides.
“I’m so thankful to finish the season well and know that all my hard work was worth it. I went into the race with no pressure or expectation on myself and just ran freely — those are when my best cross country races always come,” he said.
Assistant coach Weaver said that the men had to battle some adversity with one of their top runners being injured but that she’s “really pleased with how they rallied around one another and competed hard all year.”
Pete Johnson is proud of his team and their effort, on and off the track.
“Success in cross-country is only made possible by putting the team first. All seven of us did that today. We weren’t racing selfishly, each of us had a plan and carried it out in order to put the team in the best position.
“Placements never tell the full story — we were 17th today, but we have much more to offer. The experience was priceless and I have no doubt it will benefit UCA in the years to come,” Johnson said.
Weaver is excited about how the year and the season progressed and is ready to see how indoor track season goes, which starts Jan. 12.