By Justin St. Peter

Sept. 24, 2015

Junior Brett Harms paced the way for the Warhawks cross country team, taking first in the men’s race and defeating all 380 other runners.

The men’s and women’s cross country teams both competed at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational in Rock Island, Illinois (Augustana College) on Sept. 23rd. The men’s placed 15th out of the 21 team field, while the women placed 23rd overall.

“This is a tough meet with some great competition,” Harms said. “The heat and humidity definitely didn’t help, but we are still okay with the result. It’s very early in the season and this meet was more about just getting out there and trying to compete.”

Harms finished first overall with a time of 25:08 to lead the Warhawks.

“Winning is always fun,” Harms said. “I knew going into the meet that I had a chance to win, but it was really just about competing and trying to throw down a good tactical race. There’s still a lot of season left and I’m excited to continue training hard for the bigger races to come.”

Senior Scott Wolter was next to finish for Whitewater with a time of 26:38 to place 49th overall. Junior Benjamin Maas crossed the finish line at 27:04 to place 86th.

Freshman Stephen Zaborowski finished the course in a time of 27:48 to place 111th overall. Sophomore Braeden Michael finished four seconds behind Zaborowski with a time of 27:52 to place 115th.

Sophomore Grant Miller placed 119th overall with a time of 28:02, while junior Alec Meixelsperger finished with a time of 28:05 to place 121st.

“Overall I’m very proud of our guys for running hard,” Harms said. “Hopefully as the season goes on we become healthy and see what kind of team we can be.”

On the women’s side, sophomore Liz Mielke placed 71st overall with a time of 24:46 to lead UW-Whitewater.

“It was only our second 6k race of the season, many of us are trying to figure out exactly what our pace is and having a much more aggressive field in humid conditions made that feat more challenging,” Mielke said. “It was a good learning experience and the lessons reaped will be invaluable as we move closer to the races that are at the focal point of our season.”

Freshman Sydney Prestifilippo was next to finish for the Warhawks with a time of 25:49 to place 119th overall. Junior Monica Sweet crossed the finish line at 26:04 to place 130th overall.

Junior Emma Knudtson finished nine seconds behind Sweet to place 135th overall with a time of 26:13. Juniors Ashley Paulick and Mara Wiebke placed 143rd and 145th overall with times of 26:37 and 26:41.

“At this point in our season, our focus is on bettering ourselves from week to week, and less about placing,” Mielke said.

Freshman Hailey Van Ells rounded out the scoring for the Warhawks with a time of 27:06 to place 157th overall.

Whitewater will be back in action at 11 a.m. on Oct. 8 at the Cowbell Classic hosted by Principia College in Elsah, Illinois.