JILL-SILLINA MEWS
mewsj2@lopers.unk.edu
With ranked squads in both races at the Lewis Crossover on Saturday in Romeoville, Illinois, UNK’s men placed 13th of 35 teams with 336 points while the Loper women placed 21st of 38 teams with 510 points.
Ranked 10th in their Region, the Loper men were lead by senior Senior Corbin Hansen who placed 34th on the 8k course in 26.09.1. He was followed by sophomore Luke Stuckey in 93rd place who ran a 26:26:7.
“We had our best race of the season so far,” said UNK cross country head coach Brady Bonsall. “Our men beat a couple of nationally-ranked teams as well as a few other teams that are ranked in the top 6-7 in their regions.”
UNK’s women are 9th in their Region. Junior Destiny Reinke was the first Loper to finish, coming in 19th in the 6k race with a time of 23:15.14. Fellow Junior Maddie Bach crossed the finish line in 85th place with a time of 24:13.5, while junior Zoe Ritz was right behind as she took 89th with a time of 24:16.1.
“Destiny Reinke and Zoe Ritz had great races, but we also had some who struggled on a tremendously muddy course. There is so little margin for error,“ Bonsall said.
The Loper women were not satisfied with the race. Like there coach, they feel they could have performed much better.
“Going into this meet we had high expectations for ourselves,” said junior Zoe Ritz. “I think as a team we’ve figured out that not every race is going to go our way and it’s not always going to be perfect.”
The Lopers compete in the MIAA Championships on Oct. 26, in Joplin, Missouri. Bonsall thinks the Loper men can continue their strong performance.
“Looking ahead to the MIAA Championships, the depth of good teams in that meet is better this year than last year. Our guys will be ready, though,” Bonsall said.
He is optimistic that the Loper women will able to keep up with the strong teams at conference.
“We put a big focus on the MIAA championships last year, but I want to make sure we set ourselves up to be our best at the regional meet,” Bonsall said.
