Cross Country keeps on truckin’

by Jon Gorzkowski
Courier Staff

This past Saturday, Oct. 29, the MC cross country team traveled to Oakland Acres Country Club, in Grinnell, IA to compete in the 2005 Midwest Conference Championships.  The men ran extremely well, coming in second place overall in the 8K race.  

According to Head Coach Roger Haynes, “The men ran a strong overall race with five runners earning All-Conference honors.  This is the most All-Conference runners in 10 years.”  The Scots who had earned All-Conference honors this past weekend were senior Anthony Welty (5th, 26:29), sophomore Scott Heiar (6Th 26:33), junior Kel Bond (7th 26:34), junior Aaron Etienne (16th 27:15) and junior Darin VanNattan, who ran his season’s best (18th 27:29).

Since the last few races of the regular season, and now through some of the post season, the team has really turned up their intensity.  More specifically, the three through five spots on the team have really shown the team’s hunger for success this season as they head into the NCAA Regional Contest.

As Regionals near, which will be held on Saturday, Nov. 12, the team will be looking to send off 7 of their best runners to compete against some of the top Division Three schools, from the Illinois, Missouri, and Wisconsin areas. The race will take place at Detweiller Park, in Peoria.  This is the same course that the Scots ran when competing in the Bradley Open, earlier this year. 

Provided the Scots perform well, they will be sending some of team’s runners to the NCAA Championships.  The Championship race will take place Saturday, Nov. 19, at Ohio-Wesleyan University, in Delaware, Ohio.

As Samuel Johnson once said, “Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance.”  The team has come too far to settle for mediocrity; let’s bring home a title men. Good luck to the Fighting Scots Men’s Cross Country team this weekend at the NCAA Regionals!