There was no better way to kick off another UW-Whitewater Cross Country season than how the Warhawks did over the weekend.
The annual Tom Hoffman Invitational went fantastic for both the men and women. The Warhawks took home first as a team for both of head coach Jeff Miller’s squads. Co-ed teams Dubuque, Ripon, UW-Oshkosh, MSOE, Clark, Edgewood, Sauk Valley CC, Maranatha Baptist and Mount Mary joined UW-Whitewater in competing at Whitewater’s first home meet of the season.
Women’s Cross Country
The women kicked off the day with a strong showing. Fifth-year senior Ari De La Cerda came in first with a time of 23:16.70, a course best for her.
“In practice, we emphasize the group work,” De La Cerda said. “When you get in that race setting, you look to your right, see your teammate on your shoulder, you’re going to work together, work up those hills, and I feel like communication is just so big in a team race. We’ve been working as groups (in practice) and it helped me drastically today to get where I wanted to be.”
Her teammates, juniors Payton Scoggin and Katie Erb, rounded out the top three right on her heels with times of 23:18.70 and 23:52.20, respectively. Scoggin finished with a personal best.
“I was so happy. All I wanted was to turn around and see that we went one, two, three. I knew I was going to save a little bit of a kick for the end,” De La Cerda said. “I communicated with Payton and just said, ‘Hey, let’s finish this strong, let’s ride it out,’ and she was literally two seconds behind me. And Katie getting third place just warmed my heart.”
Sophomore Renee Forystek finished in sixth place with a time of 24:26.60, placing four Warhawks in the top six. As a team, Whitewater blew out the competition, putting up 19 points. Ripon came in second place far behind with 56.
“For my last Tom Hoffman, I couldn’t have asked for a better team finish,” De La Cerda said.
Men’s Cross Country
For the men, they proved equally as dominant as the women. Senior Gunner Schlender crossed the finish line on top at 25:44.50 with fellow senior Christian Patzka coming across the line right behind Schlender, about two seconds later at 25:46.80. Junior Dan Anderson followed Patzka with a time of 25:47.20 to round out a strong top three finish for the Warhawk men. Senior Chris Allen rounded out the top seven with his time of 26:27.00, placing four Warhawks inside the top seven. The men also finished with a remarkable nineteen points. MSOE finished second with a team score of 44..
“We had a workout in mind about how we were going to attack the race. We just ran hard at certain points. We didn’t try to run the whole thing hard,” head coach Jeff Miller said. “We did a good job at trying to manage it and run hard at times, then relax, and then run hard again.”
Words of wisdom from Miller today consisted of just staying loose.
“[I told them to] just relax. Trust what they’ve been doing. Today we had a little strategy, we weren’t going to wear ourselves out,” Miller said. “The top seven [guys] haven’t ran an 8K until today. The top four women hadn’t run a 6K yet.”
It was a fantastic day, but there was one more surprise no one knew was going to happen. Before awards were given out to the runners and teams, an award more special was announced. A long time in the making, Miller was inducted into the Wisconsin Cross Country Hall of Fame. Miller has had such an amazing effect on so many of his runners, on the course and off.
“Mills is one of the best coaches I could ever ask for,” De La Cerda said. “I have been coached by some amazing coaches, one of whom was my dad. I knew when I went to college, I wanted a coach that was going to give me the exact same care, attention, and love. And Mills has exceeded all of those expectations. I can not express how grateful I am to have him in my life. This is an honor he deserves 1000 percent.”
Miller and the Warhawks travel down to Terre Haute, Indiana, for the men’s and women’s NCAA Division III Pre Nationals Friday, Oct. 4.
