Cross Country

Category: Cross Country

Stevens wins MWC honor for second consecutive week

Lawrence University cross country standout Sam Stevens has been named the Midwest Conference Performer of the Week for second consecutive week.

Stevens (Suamico, Wis./Bay Port) won the honor after his effort at the University of Minnesota’s Roy Griak Invitational. The senior finished 29th among the 272 competitors and was the top Midwest Conference finisher in the event. Stevens covered the 8,000 meters in 26:43.5.

Stevens also won the award in the final week of September after finishing second at the UW-Whitewater Invitational on Sept. 22.

This is the fourth time Stevens has been named the MWC Performer of the Week. Stevens, the defending individual conference champion, captured the award twice during the 2011 season.

Lawrence returns to action on Saturday when it competes at its own Gene Davis Invitational at Appleton’s Reid Golf Course.

Stevens, Carlile lead Vikings to 12th at Griak Invitational

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Sam Stevens and Curran Carlile led the Lawrence University cross country team to a 12th-place finish at the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota on Saturday.

Stevens raced to 29th place and covered the 8,000-meter course in 26:43.5. Carlile raced to a 44th-place finish with a time of 27:07.5.

The Lawrence men finished 12th with 370 points.

On the women’s side, Lawrence finished 24th with 660 points. The top finisher for the Vikings was freshman Clare Bruning, who took 50th in 24:20.2.

Men’s results

Women’s results

Stevens runs down MWC Performer of the Week award

Lawrence University cross country standout Sam Stevens has been named the Midwest Conference Performer of the Week.

Stevens (Suamico, Wis./Bay Port) won the award after finishing second at the UW-Whitewater Invitational this past Saturday. Stevens covered the 8,000-meter course in 26:19 and led Lawrence to a fourth-place finish in the team standings.

This is the third time Stevens has been named the MWC Performer of the Week. Stevens, the defending individual conference champion, captured the award twice during the 2011 season.

Lawrence returns to action on Sept. 29 when it competes in the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota.

 

 

Stevens grabs second to pace Vikings at UW-Whitewater Invitational

WHITEWATER, Wis. — Sam Stevens raced to second place to pace the Lawrence University cross country teams on Saturday at the UW-Whitewater Invitational.

Stevens covered the 8,000-meter course in 26:19 to take second behind UW-Oshkosh’s John Dewitt, who posted a winning time of 26:06. Paced by Stevens, Lawrence took fourth place in the team standings with 96 points.

On the women’s side, freshman Clare Bruning led the Vikings by finishing 14th in 24:31. Lawrence finished seventh in the team standings with 170 points.

Men’s results

Women’s results

Stevens leads Vikings to second-place finish at Tom Barry Invitational

GREEN BAY, Wis. — Sam Stevens ran to a second-place finish to lead the Lawrence University men’s cross country team to second place at the Tom Barry Invitational on Saturday at Colburn Park.

Stevens covered the four-mile course in 21:12.5, just six seconds behind the winner, Logan Jadin of St. Norbert College. St. Norbert won the team title with 33 points, and Lawrence was second with 64.

Curran Carlile raced to seventh place in 21:31.3, and Jonah Laursen (11th), Kyle Dockery (15th) and Dan Thoresen (29th) rounded out the scoring for Lawrence.

On the women’s side, the Vikings finished seventh with 191 points. St. Norbert took the team title with 58 points.

The top finisher for the Vikings was freshman Clare Bruning, who finished the 5,000-meter course in 20:45.3. Also scoring for Lawrence were Anna Ratliff (35th), Liz Landes (41st), Katherine Dannecker (48th) and Alyssa Herman (49th).

Men’s results

Women’s results

Cross country teams capture academic honor

The Lawrence University men’s and women’s cross country teams have been named a United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Scholar Team.

This marks the third consecutive year both Lawrence teams have been honored for their academic achievement by the USTFCCA. To be eligible for the award, the team must have a cumulative grade point average of at least 3.10 through the fall term.

The Lawrence men had a grade point average of 3.38, and the Vikings were one of four men’s teams from the Midwest Conference to be honored.

The Lawrence women had a grade point average of 3.40 and were one of six teams from the Midwest Conference to make the grade.

The Lawrence men won the Midwest Conference championship and Sam Stevens was the league’s individual champion in 2011. The Lawrence women moved up to fifth place in the team standings in 2011.

Muhs, Stevens pace Vikings at Midwest Regional

ROCK ISLAND, Ill. — Emily Muhs and Sam Stevens were the top runners for the Vikings on Saturday at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional at Augustana College.

Muhs covered the 6,000-meter course in 23:24 to finish 46th. She led the Lawrence women to a 27th-place finish.

Stevens posted a time of 26:20 and finished 62nd in the 8,000-meter event. The Lawrence men finished in 18th place.

Results

Vikings take MWC cross country title as Stevens wins individual crown

RIPON, Wis. — The Lawrence University men’s cross country team took home all the hardware at the Midwest Conference Championships on Saturday at Ripon College.

The Vikings won the team title for the first time since 1985, and junior Sam Stevens captured the first individual men’s title for Lawrence since 1985.

Lawrence took the team title with 51 points, edging Grinnell College by just two points. The win by Lawrence snapped Grinnell’s 14-year stranglehold on the trophy.

“I’m really happy,” said Lawrence coach Jason Fast, who was named Coach of the Year. “The team worked really hard all year, and they deserve all the credit in the world. They definitely earned it today.”

Fast said they were tracking the results as the runners crossed the line, and he believed his team had won.

“I had a pretty good idea, but you never know,” Fast said. “It was too close to call. I knew unofficially we had won, but we had to sweat it out and wait for the results.”

Stevens led the contingent of five runners to earn all-conference honors (the top 20 finishers are  all-conference) for the Vikings. Stevens won the 8,000-meter race in 25:09.11 to become Lawrence’s first individual champion since Eric Griffin won back-to-back crowns in 1984 and 1985. It also marked the third consecutive year Stevens has been an all-conference performer.

“Sam led wire-to-wire,” Fast said. “That was part of the plan. We needed him to do that and stretch the field out. It worked for us. There was nobody that was going to touch him today.”

Sophomore Curran Carlile and freshman Kyle Dockery finished fifth and sixth, respectively, for the Vikings. Carlile finished in 25:37.79 and Dockery came in at 25:40.04. Sophomore Jamie Brisbois was 19th in 26:23.13, and senior Sam Estrem rounded out the scoring in 20th in 26:29.27.

On the women’s side, senior Emily Muhs earned all-conference honors for the third consecutive season while leading the Vikings to a fifth-place finish.

Lawrence, which finished seventh last season, finished with 166 points. The Vikings edged Beloit (168) and Ripon (169) to finish in the upper half of the conference.

Muhs finished 12th and completed the 6,000-meter course in 22:32.97. Rosie Graber came in 30th, Anna Ratliff was 36th, Maggie Mahaffa was 41st and Cathy Kaye rounded out the scoring in 47th.

Results

Inside LU Athletics: Vikings taking a run at the title

The Lawrence University men’s cross country team snuck up on the competition a little bit at the 2010 Midwest Conference Championships.

No such luck this year because the Vikings are coming up as fast as a Mack truck in your rear-view mirror.

After finishing sixth at the 2009 conference meet, the Vikings jumped up to second last season and are contenders for the title on Saturday. The meet begins with the women’s race at 11 a.m., and the men run at noon on the course just west of the Ripon College campus.

“I think it puts more pressure on everyone else,” Lawrence coach Jason Fast said. “Last year the other teams didn’t feel that pressure to beat us. Now we’re legitimate contenders. They know we’re going to be up there and have to take us seriously.”

The Vikings return four of their top five men’s runners from a season ago, including all-conference honorees Sam Stevens and Curran Carlile.

Stevens, a junior from Suamico, Wis., finished third last season and is the top returning runner in the league. Stevens is attempting to be the first men’s conference champion from Lawrence since Eric Griffin won back-to-back titles in 1984 and 1985. Carlile grabbed seventh as a freshman in 2010 and has been the Vikings’ No. 2 runner all season.

“Sam’s the top returner and he hasn’t lost to a runner from the Midwest Conference all year,” Fast said. “He would be very disappointed if he didn’t win. We need him to win. I think the team race is going to be a point or two either way. It’s not going to be a landslide victory. Every spot counts.”

The Vikings are looking to wrest the championship trophy away from Grinnell College, which is working on a streak of 14 consecutive league titles.

“It’s going to take a great effort,” Fast said. “You can’t have a lackluster effort and win a championship, especially this year. This will be Grinnell going for 15 in a row and that’s a big deal. I fully expect Grinnell to throw everything at us this weekend and have their best race.”

Fast said the team ran one of its best races of the 2010 season at the MWC Championships. Given the team’s focus on winning the conference title, he believes the same thing can happen on Saturday.

“We’ve been talking about it for a really long time now. We’ve been talking about winning it since the beginning of the season,” Fast said. “As we started to see it progress, it’s taken on a life of its own. They’ve responded really well to it. They were ready to go this last weekend.”

The Lawrence women are also looking to move up after taking seventh in 2010. Leading the way for Lawrence is senior Emily Muhs of Janesville, Wis. Muhs finished seventh last season and earned all-conference honors for the second consecutive season.

“Emily wants to improve. She wants to be top five,” Fast said. “We’d like her to be top five. That would really help us in the team race. A lot of the teams we’re competing with don’t have that low number at the top.

“She’s progressed slowly this year but she is coming along. She generally has her best races of the year at conference.”

Fast also believes sophomore Anna Ratliff and freshman Maggie Mahaffa can reach the top 20 and earn all-conference honors as well.

“They’ve both been racing really well all season,” Fast said of Ratliff and Mahaffa. “They have continuously improved from meet to meet. I think if they can continue that at conference, they will have a shot to be in the top 20.”

Win and they’re in

Both the Lawrence men’s soccer team and volleyball team need a win and they are in their respective four-team conference tournaments.

Men’s soccer travels to Illinois College on Saturday, and a victory would put the Vikings (6-9-1, 5-2-1 MWC) in the MWC Tournament for the second consecutive season. The Vikings have won six of the last seven meetings against the Blueboys, but Lawrence needed overtime to win the match last season.

The volleyball team is looking for its first trip to the MWC Tournament since it went to its current four-team format in 2008.

Lawrence (12-17, 5-2 MWC) plays at Beloit on Friday and then travels to Lake Forest on Saturday. One win gets the Vikings in the tournament, and a pair of victories would assure Lawrence of no worse than the third seed.

Win and help needed

The Lawrence women’s soccer team needs a win in the regular-season finale Illinois College on Saturday and some help to get into the MWC Tournament for the second straight season.

The Vikings are 4-3-1 in the league (6-10-1 overall) and tied with Monmouth and Ripon for the final conference tournament spot. Lawrence, the defending MWC Tournament champion, holds the tiebreaker over Monmouth, but Ripon has the tiebreaker against the Vikings. Ripon does have to travel to Grinnell (5-1-1 MWC) for its final league contest.

History should be on the side of the Vikings, who are 13-0-0 in the series with Illinois College.

Editor’s Note: Inside LU Athletics is a weekly notes package written by Lawrence University Sports Information Director Joe Vanden Acker. It will feature teams and individual players, recap weekly awards or highlights and take a look at what’s ahead for the Vikings.

Stevens picks up MWC weekly award for second time this season

Lawrence University men’s cross country star Sam Stevens has been named the Midwest Conference Performer of the Week for the second time this season.

Stevens (Suamico, Wis./Bay Port) won the award after his performance at the UW-Oshkosh Brooks Invitational this past Saturday. Running in a field of elite teams from around the Midwest, Stevens covered the 8,000-meter course at Lake Breeze Golf Club in 26:02.29 to finish 47th.

Stevens was the top finisher among all the Midwest Conference competitors at the meet. Stevens finished 51 places higher than the next finisher from the league.

Stevens also won the MWC Performer of the Week award after winning the St. Norbert College Tom Barry Invitational on Sept. 3.