Tabor runners end season at regional meet
TC cross country season ends at regional meet
The Tabor College cross country season came to an end Saturday morning at the Region VI championship meet at the Lincoln, Neb. Pioneer Park hosted by Concordia University.
The Lady Bluejays finished 11th out of 26 teams with 343 points and the men took 14th out of 23 with 391 points.
The men's finish was the fourth best among the KCAC schools while the women posted the second highest place next to ninth-place Southwestern.
Hosting Concordia won both divisions comfortably with the men scoring 34 points and the women notched 20.
Women's runner-up Sioux Falls, S.D., was 63 points in back of Concordia and Southwestern finished 42 points behind the Bulldogs in the men's class.
"Our performances were a strong finish to the season," Bluejay coach Karol Hunt said. "The women's 11th place finish and the men's 14th place finish are a positive for our program.
"The races were run in cold conditions on a difficult course at Pioneer's Park in Lincoln, Neb. Temperatures were in the mid-20s combined with some challenging hills."
For the women, Angie Jost ran a 20th place time of 20:18 in the five-kilometer race, the best finish ever for a Lady Bluejay at the regional meet.
Running her final race ever, Sarah Frick took 100th out of 133 runners with her fastest time of the season, 23:12.
Kendra Raber (82, 22:20,) and senior Esther Richert (104, 23:35) ran their second fastest races of the year as five of the six women competitors trimmed their conference meet times from the previous week down.
Pacing the Bluejays as he has done all year, Pete Richert ended his first season of cross country with a 50th place time of 28:25 out of 160 finishers.
Freshman Jeff Anenson's 83rd place time of 29:18 was his second best of the year.
"I was happy for Jeff to end the season with that performance," said Hunt. "His freshman season has been tough so this race is a strong foundation on which to build for the spring track season and next cross country season."
Wil Higerd's 142nd place time of 32:36 was 1:01 faster than his regional time of a year ago and Matt Lynam sped up 1:22 to take 122nd in 31:06.
Saturday's regional race marked the ending of four years for Ryan Sperling and Esther Richert while Frick and Higerd ended two-year runs.
"All four have contributed tremendously to Tabor cross country," Hunt said.
