APPLETON, Wis. — Saturday’s Midwest Conference Championships are likely to be the cross country equivalent of a free-for-all because multiple teams in both races are ready to come out swinging.
At the end of the day, the teams celebrating with the trophy in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, will be the ones that withstood a bevy of haymakers.
“I would argue it’s as good as it’s ever been,” Lawrence University coach Jason Fast said of the women’s field. “Looking back at the history, there couldn’t have been a lot of times there have been teams ranked regionally or with the number of quality individuals there are. There’s a lot more parity among the top five teams.”
Lawrence is among four teams, the others being Cornell College, Grinnell College and St. Norbert College, that have been regionally and/or nationally ranked this season. The Vikings won the team titles at their own Gene Davis Invitational and at the Concordia (Wis.) Ken Weidt Classic this season.
The Vikings were ranked in the brutally tough Midwest Region and return five all-conference runners, seniors Clare Bruning, Liz Landes and Cora Williams, junior Amy Hutchings and sophomore Erin Schrobilgen.
“I expect them all to have their sights set on accomplishing that again,” Fast said. “Erin and Clare have been leading for us all season. They both have their sights set on a top-10 finish.”
Even with that kind of depth, nothing is guaranteed for the Vikings because of the other stars in the league.
“Our goal is to be a top-two team. It has been all season,” Fast said. “That’s still what we would like to do. It’s definitely not a foregone conclusion. We are going to get a good fight from four other teams that think they’re good enough to be a top-two team.”
On the men’s side, Lawrence has two of the premier runners in the league in Max Edwards and Josh Janusiak, but there is a strong group of title contenders. Edwards finished 10th a season ago, but Fast believes both Edwards and Janusiak can finish right up front.
“Max was all-conference last year and he was a conference champion in track. I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do in a conference-style setting in cross country,” Fast said.
“Josh has been really good, and he’s taking it all in stride. He sees the writing on the wall of how good he can be and the opportunity he has at the conference meet.”
With seniors Jordan Atkins and Cam Davies and freshmen Ben Schaefer and Mayan Essek in the mix, the Vikings are also looking for a finish in the top two. Grinnell, Lake Forest College and St. Norbert are also strong contenders for the title so the championship will likely be decided by someone who steps up a few places at the finish.
“We’re much better than we were last year, and we’re much deeper than we were last year, which is nice,” Fast said.
“For our three through seven runners, it’s how well can they perform because they are the ones that can make up the most points on the field. I don’t necessarily think it will take five all-conference runners to win, but if we do that, we will be really hard to beat.”