Moore Seeks Second Straight WIAC Cross Country Title
UW-Oshkosh's Cheyenne Moore is out to defend her WIAC Women's Cross Country Championship title on Saturday (Oct. 28) in Whitewater. The 40th league championship (Presented by Culver's) is set for 1 p.m. at UW-Whitewater's Campus Trails.
Moore won last year's 6,000-meter race with a time of 21:50 as the Titans finished second to UW-La Crosse for the team title. The Eagles claimed their third team championship in four years by compiling 26 points.
UW-Oshkosh was last year's conference runner-up with 55 points while UW-Eau Claire finished third with 61, UW-Stout fourth with 122, UW-River Falls fifth with 150, UW-Platteville sixth with 155, UW-Stevens Point seventh with 175 and UW-Whitewater eighth with 238.
Moore has won each of her last three races this season, claiming individual titles at the UW-Oshkosh Kollege Town Sports Invitational on Oct. 14 in Winneconne, the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational on Sept. 29 in Colfax and the Roy Griak Invitational on Sept. 23 in Falcon Heights, Minn.
Moore, who finished 15th at the league meet in 2014 and 45th in 2015, is seeking to become the seventh Titan to win more than one WIAC women's cross country title and the first since Christy Cazzola won three straight league championships from 2010-12.
UW-Oshkosh's lineup for the WIAC Championship is expected to also include Cammy Garvelink, Ashton Keene, Jessica Stamn, Hannah Thorn and Amanda Van Den Plas, who all competed at last year's league race. Keene finished 26th a year ago while Stamn was 52nd, Garvelink 58th, Thorn 73rd and Van Den Plas 77th. Thorn and Stamn also produced finishes of 75th and 90th, respectively, in 2015.
The Titans' 12-member lineup this Saturday will also feature Lexus Brown, Tayah Cunningham, Erica Liesen, Hannah Lohrenz, Reece Matheson and Melissa Srnka.
Brown, Srnka and Van Den Plas each placed in the top 10 at the UW-Oshkosh Open on Oct. 20 in Winneconne while Lohrenz had a team-leading seventh-place showing at the Gene Davis Invitational on Oct. 7 in Appleton. Brown finished seventh at the UW-Oshkosh Open while Van Den Plas was eighth and Srnka 10th.
This year's WIAC Championship will include three teams ranked in the NCAA Division III by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. UW-La Crosse is ranked 12th, UW-Eau Claire 19th and UW-River Falls 35th.
Returning runners who have secured All-WIAC honors at previous conference championships are: UW-Eau Claire's Melody Becker (20th in 2014), Callie Fischer (ninth in 2016), Karen Gomez-Ruiz (17th in 2016), Morgan Marek (fifth in 2016) and Samantha Slattery (15th in 2016); UW-La Crosse's Hannah Beilke (16th in 2015), Andrea Brekken (18th in 2015, 10th in 2016), Mackenzie Keller-Miller (19th in 2015), Sadie Kroll (second in 2016), Kaitlyn McDaniel (sixth in 2015 and fourth in 2016) and Rebecca Voss (fifth in 2015 and 14th in 2016); and UW-Platteville's Janelle Ferguson (20th in 2015).
The top seven runners on Saturday will receive All-WIAC first team recognition while runners placing eight through 14 earn All-WIAC second team accolades. Individuals finishing 15 through 20 claim honorable mention laurels.
UW-Oshkosh has won a record 16 WIAC titles since the event debuted in 1978. The Titans claimed their most recent championship in 2015.