The Bears cross country teams left the UCA Bear XC Invitational’s 5K with a slew of good results Saturday, Sept. 10.
Along with both the men’s and women’s teams placing first, 20 runners hit personal records. The men’s team broke 11 records and nine for the women.
Graduate student Julian Haessner finished first for the men’s team with a personal record with a 14:28.1, with his brother Philipp close behind with a personal record of 14:29.3.
“We were together with the big group, then we moved up a little bit and overall we are very satisfied with the result and felt really good in the race. So a good point in the season right now,” Julian Haessner said.
Junior Sara Steimel finished second for the women’s team with a personal record of 17:42.3. Madelin Hill won the women’s race unattached and UCA’s Coach Josey Weaver said Hill is one of UCA’s runners who is redshirting this year. Steimel finished just behind Hill.
“To have those two girls training with each other in practice everyday is pretty cool and special to see,” Weaver said.
This follows a second place result for the men’s team last weekend in Little Rock, where the women’s team finished first.
“We had a bad taste in our mouth from a week ago [if I’m] being honest. I think we wanted to get back here and show what we could do,” Weaver said. “I went a little bit easier in terms of working out before the meet and I really think they responded well to it and got after it as a team.”
The double first-place finish puts UCA further in the lead for the Governor’s I-40 Showdown, a competition between UCA and UALR across 11 sports. UCA is now winning 9-2.
“The I-40 Challenge is important to us and something we take pride in winning as a school … So it was nice to win both team titles today.”
Now, the Bears cross country teams look forward to the later part of the season’s championships in October and November. Both Weaver and Philipp Haessner recognized the later championships as a big goal for the team.
“The most important races are in October and November, so we have to stay focused now on this goal [not overworking],” Julian Haessner said. “From the team last week we did good but I felt like today was a turning point because everyone raced great here … For the team we now have motivation to keep going and focus on our goals for conference.”
The meet was held at Beaverfork Lake north of Conway, and saw schools like the University of Arkansas Little Rock and Pine Bluff in attendance.
The Bears will next run at the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. Sept. 30. After that, the next meet will be in October just before the ASUN Championship in Alabama.