Improvement Abound As Cross Country Wraps Up Season
BETTENDORF, Iowa – Going into the final race of the season, both the men's and women's cross country teams of Calumet College of St. Joseph have seen their share of ups and downs. But what truly mattered to them is how they finished out their campaigns. Each squad improved over last year's CCAC Cross Country Championships results, giving them building blocks for even more success next year.
RESULTS
Men's Team:
6th out of 13th
Average Time: 28:55
Women's Team:
7th out of 13th
Average Time: 21:29
TOP RUNNERS
Men: Matthew King (SR/Hazel Crest, Ill.) (28th/27:00.9)
Women: Grace Dwyer (SO/Lake Station, Ind.) (46th/20:06.9)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Crow Creek Park in Bettendorf, Iowa was the scene for this year's 2018 CCAC Championships, which proved to feature much more pleasant running conditions than the torrential rain from the year before in Elgin, Ill. A cloudy day with temperatures in the mid 40's greeted the runners, but the overall course conditions were good. The hilly course proved to be faster than it looked with several downhill portions to go along with a long straight away to the finish.
On the men's side, seven of the eight Crimson Wave runners either saw themselves turn in season best times or break personal records. Matthew King led the pack for CCSJ, as he has for most of the year, finishing in an overall position of 24th. There was a downside to that result however. For the second straight year King barely missed qualifying for the NAIA Cross Country National Championships, falling four spots short of a trip to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Hector Martinez (FR/Berwyn, Ill.) turned in a personal best performance, finishing 28th overall. "We're looking forward to Hector coming back for the 2019 season. I believe that he is going to be on the top runners in the conference a year from now," said head coach Jonathan Jimenez. Rounding out the top three was Dwayne Doss (NA) who finished 45th, but shaved 23 seconds off his first result of the year, and looks to do even better with a full pre-season under his belt in 2019. "I asked them to be the best version of this year's team at this race, and they were. They delivered in a big way with almost everyone dropping 30 seconds or more off of PRs and had the fastest team average of the year," said Jimenez. "We placed 6th overall as a team after finishing after finishing 7th last year. They came out aggressive, fought through the tough parts of the course, and all took people down going into the finish."
As for the women, they also improved one spot year over year, moving up from 8th place to 7th. Grace Dwyer once again paced the Lady Wave as she has done at almost every race this year. Dwyer came in 46th place, with a time of 20:06. Freshman Delilah Delgado (FR/East Chicago, Ind.), who has been impressive all season as a freshman, finished second on the team in 47th, exactly three tenths of a second behind her teammate. Finishing in 50th position was Kayley Beecham (FR/Whiting, Ind.), who came in third on the CCSJ team standings. Delgado, Daniella Nino, Hannah Carr (SR/White Pigeon, Mich.), Keara Wisek (SO/Lake Station, Ind.), and Arianna Canales (SO/Chicago, Ill.) each broke personal records, showing vast improvement from last season. "I was impressed with the overall transformation of the team from their first race to today's conference meet," said head coach Jackie Torres. "80 percent of the girls dropped at least two minutes off their times and all are healthy and excited to continue their training journey. I have no doubt that next year's season will build off the energy of this one, and I see us continuing to move up the conference ladder."
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