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Homepage > Athletics > UMAC
10/28/06
Men's Cross Country - vs. UMAC Championship
SAINTS WIN! SAINTS WIN!! SAINTS WIN!!!
Placing all five of their scoring runners in the top-10 of Saturday morning's UMAC Championship in New Brighton, Minn., St. Scholastica picked up their first men's cross country championship in the history of the program.
Eight-time defending champion Martin Luther College pushed two runners across the finish line in first and second place to announce their hopes of adding a ninth consecutive conference crown to their cache.
But sophomore Jason Kask led the Saints' challenge for the title with a third place finishing time of 27 minutes and 40 seconds. And when freshman Dan Conley was next across the finish in a fourth place time of 28:13, the battle was on.
And short lived as three St. Scholastica runners finished ahead of the next Martin Luther racer, clinching the title for the Saints.
Senior Joe Stromsness enjoyed his final UMAC race with an all-conference eighth place finishing time of 28:45 with teammate Tyler Kjorstad nearly shoulder to shoulder with him only one second behind. When freshman John Bradshaw came across in tenth place (28:53), the Saints could begin the celebration of their first conference crown.
The Saints finished with a team score of 34 points, followed by Martin Luther's 49 and Northwestern's 60 points.
Thomas Moldenhauer of Martin Luther was the repeat winner in a time of 27:06. Joining him in being announced as All-Conference performers were teammate Loren Milbrath (2nd, 27:30), St. Scholastica's Kask, Conley, Stromsness, Kjorstad and Bradshaw, Northwestern's Zach Marshall (5th, 28:15) and Jacob Rippelmeyer (7th, 28:42), and Northland's Shannon Flynn (6th, 28:24).
With St. Scholastica's 2006 women's championship, the Saints become the first team since 1995 to sweep both the men's and women's conference titles in the same year.
St. Scholastica's next task will be a positive appearance in the NCAA Division-III Central Regional Championship on Saturday, Nov. 1, at St. Olaf College. It will be the first NCAA Regional race for the Saints after moving up from the NAIA ranks at the close of last season.
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