Titans Place Third At WIAC Championship
Evlyn Noone finished sixth and Hannah Lohrenz ninth among 89 runners as UW-Oshkosh placed third in the team standings at the 41st Annual Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Women's Cross Country Championship (Presented by Culver's) held Saturday (Oct. 27) at the Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax.
Noone, a graduate student who was making her WIAC Championship debut, earned all-league first team recognition by completing the 6,000-meter race with a time of 22:24.
Lohrenz, a sophomore, received All-WIAC second team accolades with her time of 22:48. Lohrenz was a 45th-place finisher at last year's championship.
UW-Oshkosh scored 110 points in achieving its third-place finish in the eight-team meet. The 16-time WIAC champion Titans finished seventh in last year's competition with 140 points.
UW-Eau Claire tallied 39 points to win its second straight WIAC team title and 10th overall. Trailing the Blugolds in the standings were 2016 champion UW-La Crosse with 63 points, third-place UW-Oshkosh and fourth-place UW-Stout with 117.
Rounding out the team finishes were fifth-place UW-River Falls with 121 points, sixth-place UW-Stevens Point with 129, seventh-place UW-Platteville with 139 and eighth-place UW-Whitewater with 201.
UW-Eau Claire entered the WIAC Championship ranked 10th in the NCAA Division III by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association and UW-La Crosse 24th.
UW-Oshkosh had three other runners help compile its team score as Amanda Van Den Plas finished 27th with a time of 23:28, Ashton Keene 32nd in 23:38 and Elizabeth Reddeman 48th in 24:28.
UW-La Crosse's Hannah Beilke won the individual title with a time of 21:41. She previously finished 19th at the league championship in 2017 and 16th in 2015.
UW-Eau Claire's Sam Slattery finished second to Beilke with a time of 21:50 while UW-La Crosse's Sadie Kroll placed third in 22:04, UW-Eau Claire's Morgan Marek fourth in 22:12 and UW-Stout's Jessica Petruzates fifth in 22:15.
Other UW-Oshkosh results featured Alexis Reichardt finishing 53rd with 24:53, Tayah Cunningham 61st in 25:26, Breanna Van Den Plas 64th in 25:42, Melissa Srnka 66th in 25:44, Allison Chen 69th in 25:56, Hannah Thorn 71st in 26:12 and Megan Berg 75th 26:35.
The top seven runners from Saturday's race received All-WIAC first team recognition while runners placing eight through 14 earned All-WIAC second team accolades. Individuals finishing 15 through 20 collected honorable mention laurels.
UW-La Crosse's Kroll and UW-Platteville's Johanna Meister were named co-recipients of the WIAC Judy Kruckman Scholar-Athlete Award.
Following a weekend off, all eight WIAC teams will return to the Whitetail Golf Course for the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional on Nov. 10.
The NCAA Division III Championship will be hosted by UW-Oshkosh and held at the Lake Breeze Golf Club in Winneconne on Nov. 17. The facility also hosted the national championship in 1999, 2011 and 2015.
Written by Ally Gwidt, UW-Oshkosh Sports Information
Photo by Jill Millis, UW-Eau Claire Sports Information