10/29/06

After Martin Luther and Morris sent the first and second runners across the finish line of the 6,000 meter course Saturday morning at the UMAC cross country championship in New Brighton, Minn., what followed was a blue wave of St. Scholastica runners that put a stamp of domination on this year's championship.

In less than 60 seconds, five Saints runners made their way to the finish, effectively ending the title race before the top 10 racers even came in. For good measure, St. Scholastica's next two runners crossed in eighth and tenth place to give the Saints a total of seven of ten All-Conference runners honored at the meet.

Sophomore Erin Reicks led the Saints with a third place finish in a time of 24 minutes and 20 seconds. As expected, senior Stacy Kantola (4th, 25:00) and junior Brittany Peterson (5th, 25:10) were close behind Reicks to stake St. Scholastica to a 'lead' of sorts.

Freshman Tara Connolly and senior Amy Wicker had both been looking like they were peaking at the right time of the season for head coach Steve Pfingsten and the Saints team, and both had perhaps their strongest races of the season that clinched the conference title for St. Scholastica. Connolly (6th, 25:14) was only 14 seconds behind Peterson, and Wicker (7th, 25:18) was on Connolly's heels.

With junior Bridget Smith's eighth place time of 25:26 and junior Megan Salo's ninth place finish in 25:29, the Saints wave of runners crossed the finish within an amazing 69 seconds of each other.

Following behind St. Scholastica's team total of 25 points was runner-up Minn.-Morris with 73 and Northland with 82 points.

Anna Bourman was the race winner in a time of 23:47. Joining her on the All-Conference team are Morris' Kateryna Zhdanovych (2nd, 24:14) and Allison Betsch (9th, 25:28), and St. Scholastica's Reicks, Kantola, Peterson, Connolly, Wicker, Smith and Salo.

With the Saints' 2006 men's title, St. Scholastica become the first UMAC school since 1995 to win both the women's and men's conference meet in the same year.

The win extends the streak of conference championships for the women of St. Scholastica to six. The Saints hope to keep the good times rolling at the NCAA Division-III Central Regional Championship at St. Olaf College on Nov. 1, their first NCAA Regional after moving up from NAIA competition at the close of last season.