The women’s and men’s cross country teams traveled to Illinois to compete in the Augustana Interregional Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 14.

Competition was tough, as Augustana is the biggest, and most competitive regular season meet for the teams according to head coach Dan Schwamberger. 

“There were 20 nationally ranked teams at this meet, including the number one ranked team in the men’s and women’s categories,” Schawmberger said. “Knowing we were able to race against strong competition is a big confidence boost heading into the WIAC Championships.” 

In the women’s varsity race, the Blugolds placed sixth out of 42 teams and scored a total of 218 points. For the open race, they placed fourth out of 22 teams. Fourth-year Carolyn Shult was first overall for the team, and placed second out of 181 runners in the 6K. 

Another notable performance came from Carissa Prestholt. She worked with her teammate, Ryann Wagner, and had a strong run in the final third of the 6K, which pushed the team to fourth place overall, and 13th place overall for Prestholt. 

On the men’s side, the Blugolds took 14th out of 43 teams with 445 points scored, and for the open race, they placed 20th out of 34 teams, scoring 585 points. In the varsity race, fourth-year Mason Shea placed 28th overall, with fellow fourth-year Trevor LaMirande close behind. 

This 8K race was a big milestone for LaMirande, as he finished 43rd in a field of 453 competitors and he ran his best time ever for this event, finishing with a time of 25:25. 

LaMirande, who will be joining the team for a fifth year, said he was excited for the team and the postseason.

“Augustana was a solid race for the guys,” LaMirande said. “But there was a lot of sickness so there is room for improvement.” 

Despite this, both teams had strong individual and team performances that will help gain positive momentum for the upcoming WIAC meet. 

For both teams, they aim to achieve a top-five finish and hopefully set individual goals players have been working towards this season, including LaMirande.

“A top 20 finish would get you an all-conference spot, which would be very cool,” LaMirande said.

LaMirande also said he wants to help the team in any way he can because he is very fond of the environment. 

“I love being around the team, so coming back for a fifth year was an easy decision,” LaMirande said. 

Both the women’s and men’s teams are preparing for the start of the postseason and head coach Schwamberger has put emphasis on the “controllables.” 

“Our main goal is continuing to control the ‘controllables’ of sleep, nutrition, staying ahead in class, training smart, etc. so when we toe the starting line in the postseason we are confident because we’ve done everything in our power to be ready to race our best,” he said.

Both teams will continue to train and prepare for the conference competition they will be facing at WIAC. 

Moris can be reached at [email protected].