The St. John’s cross country team competed last Saturday at the NCAA Division III Central Regional in Waverly, Iowa. After advancing to the regionals from a third place finish in the MIAC Championship, the Johnnies placed sixth at the Central Regional. However, it wasn’t enough for the Johnnies to qualify for NCAA Nationals, as only the top two teams in the regional championships advance to nationals. Thus the Johnnies ended their 2011 season. It was a great season for the Johnnies who built off every race.
“We made a lot of progress during the season and we’re right where we needed to be,” Head Coach Timothy Miles said. “We finished the season with our best meet yet as a team, but we just could not get there [the NCAA Nationals].”
Contributing to the sixth place finish was senior runner Joe Gair who took 35th with a time of 26:24 and sophomore runner Nate Engel who finished 67th with a time of 26:57. It was a different season for the Johnnies, who didn’t have a front-runner this year as compared to last year with Dustin Franta.
“It was different not having a front-runner, but also fun running so closely with them,” senior Joe Gair said. “We did our best, and there is nothing to be ashamed of. There were just other teams, who were better than us, so they advanced. That is how it goes sometimes.”
Out of the top seven runners who finished, four of them were seniors who will be leaving next year. This will give a lot of Johnnie runners the chance to step up.
“It is going to hurt not having those runners with us, but there’s other guys out there who have a lot of potential,” sophomore Nate Engel said. “It is going to be a battle competing against each other, but it will help us come back strong.”
Many of the Johnnies will continue running in track through this winter and spring, so continuing to get the mileage is an easy feat. Each runner will continue to build on their season from this year.
“They know what they need to do and that nothing comes guaranteed,” Miles said. “They’ll build off of this season into the next. That’s why you have four years.”
Other notable finishers in the race were junior Matt Scherber who finished 32nd with a time of 26:14, sophomore John Subialka (35th) and seniors Jordan Fladland (44th), Ruairi Moynihan (49th) and Andy Clasen (66th).