NCAA Nationals Summary

It was a good day to be from Minnesota at the NCAA Championships this weekend. St. Olaf's men's team won the DIII title while St. Scholastica's Chelsea Johnson won the women's DIII individual title.  Emma Bates finished second in the DI women's race and Jennifer Agnew of U-Mary won the DII women's title.

St Olaf men's team celebrating their win. Photo courtesy of the
NCAA

St Olaf knocked off two-time defending champions North Central by a mere two points, 84-86.  The Ole's top four made the All American team with Grant Wintheiser taking third(24:43.8), Jake Brown eighth(25:00), Brian Saksa(25:07.3) seventeenth, and Jake Campbell(25:19.7) thirty-first. Calvin Lehn (25:41.2) sealed the win by finishing sixtyfifth.  Bethel's Matt Berens also made All American, finishing seventh in 24:57.5.  The team race was so close that a mere two seconds was the margin of victory.  If either North Central's third or fifth point scorers had run two seconds faster, they would have won their third straight title.  Carleton's mens team finished 16th with 442 points. The Carleton women finished 18th and also scored 442 points

The race is on for the DIII women's individual crown. Winner
Chelsea Johnson is first on the left, team champion
Johns Hopkins' Hannah Oneda(247), St Olaf's Noelle Olson(360),
and  Michaela Freeby(34) of Willamette battled stride for stride
until 5K when Johnson made her move.
Photo courtesy of NCAA

In the DIII women's race Chelsea Johnson had plenty of company up front, but was able to execute her race plan to perfection.  "It felt weird to run with other women," said Johnson, who is used to running alone in the front.  "But I knew I had to hold my spot and then take off at the end.  I decided when walking the course and talking with coach, that the 5K mark was going to be the time I was going to go." 

Go she did, gradually pulling away to an eleven second victory in 21:11.7.  "I was exhausted, happy and excited. I just put my arms in the air when I crossed the finish line."

In stark contrast to the four-way battle in DIII, U-Mary's Jennifer Agnew hardly had any company, gapping the competition early and maintaining her lead to the finish.  Agnew also won by 11 seconds in 20:50.7.  Her only anxious moment came when she nearly came to a stop picking up the timing chip that fell off her shoe.

Jennifer Agnew breaks the tape. Notice in her right hand the
timing chip that fell off during the race.
Photo courtesy of NCAA

In contrast with the soggy turf in Indiana for both the DI and DIII meets, the DII race was held in Spokane where it was sunny and dry.  No sand spread over slippery, googy mud pits as in DI or merely soggy ground for the DIII racers.  The DI race also featured a strong wind in addition to the sand and soft surface that at least one of the female racer found too slick as she took a tumble early in the race, fourtunately she was on the outside of the pack, so her fall didn't turn into a pile up.

South Dakota State's Trent Lusignan didn't panic over the conditions, like Johnson he merely executed his race plan.  “The game plan was to start out easy," said Lusignan. “I felt smooth, I was just working my way up and guys were falling back.” At 3K of the 10K race, Lusignan was in the massive packe in 61st place, by 5K he had moved up 30 places to 31st in 15:01.7 at halfway.  By 8K the Shakopee grad had moved up to 12th, a spot he held to the end, finishing in 30:18.8, earning All American honors.

Ferlic with his medal

The course was flooded where the usual start is so the organizers moved the starting line up a around 100 meters, so it wasn't a full 10K.  Mounds Park Academy grad and Michigan's number one man Mason Ferlic didn't let any of that bother him as he also madeAll American, placing 22nd in 30:32.8.

  "One thing I think people don't understand about today is that he ran in similar muddy conditions at the Big Ten and was really penalized," said Michigan XC head coach Alex Gibby.. "He's not a strength-oriented runner. He's efficient and he's graceful, but there's no power to his game. 

Mason Ferlic sprintng off the starting line.

"At the Big Ten, he really struggled over the last mile, ending up ninth, and losing to a bunch of guys who he handled and handled well today. He was the first Big Ten finisher across the line. You speak about learning curves during the championship portion of the season and in three weeks he's listened to the tactics of what we've wanted him to do and he executed very successfully. The learning curve moved very quickly for him."

Elk River and Boise State's Emma Bates has also been a good student of the sport.  When Iona's Kate Avery took off early in the race and opened a big lead, Bates didn't panic.  She worked with eventual race winner, Dartmouth's Abbey D’Agostino, to gradually reel in Avery.  It took them nearly 5K to do it and D'Agostino then made a move of her own, breaking away from Bates and Avery to narrowly miss breaking 20 minutes finishing in  20:00.3.  Bates was second in 20:03.9, and Avery ran 20:05.4.(the women's start was also moved up because of the flooding, so none of them ran a full 6K).

Emma Bates running for Elk River.
Photo by Gene Niemi

Samantha Rivard

In the DII race the University of Minnesota Duluth women placed tenth, Winona State 16th.  Freshman Samantha Rivard led the UMD team  and made All American in eighth in 21:17.8. Winona State's Jessica Young was 28th to also gain All American status.

"It was a blast being there," said Rivard. "We put up a good fight and were looking to place a little higher, but we're going to continue to improve and push each other to succeed. This was one of the best seasons this program has ever had."

Sophomore Hannah Olson (67th/22:20), junior Allie Rudin (80th/ 22:28.4), freshman Breanna Colbenson (90th/22:32.6) completed the scoring for UMD.

The seniors led the way for the University of Minnesota women, who placed 20th in the DI team competition.  Led by senior Laura Docherty (61st place/20:58.2) and fellow seniors Maggie Bollig (108/21:22.4) and Kelli Budd (118/21:25.7) junior Molly Kayfes(120/21:25.9), and senior Katie Moraczewski(135/21:33.5) scored for the Gophers.