Left: Leading the women’s squad to a third-place finish, Liz Kleinsasser strides past a bend in the high grass. Right: Caleb Schroeder completes the first 1.5- mile loop of the men’s race, in which Tabor placed fourth.Free Press photos by Andrew Ottoson
The Tabor College women’s cross country team placed third on the strength of all-conference calibre races by Liz Kleinsasser and Heidi Schmidt.
Kleinsasser placed fourth with a time of 18 minutes, 42 seconds. Schmidt (19:35) placed 8th. Amber Wiens (17th, 19:54) trailed Schmidt by only 19 seconds.
“That was a major accomplishment for Amber after her knee surgery eight months ago,” coach Karol Hunt said. “This was the first time for her to break into the 19s.”
Jera Tesselle (22nd, 20:18) came next, with Ashley Schmidt (28th, 20:54) and Carrie Schroeder (29th, 20:54) running and placing together moments later. Leah Kopper (34th, 21:25) was the seventh Bluejay to cross. Tasheena Ruzinsky (45th, 21:52) finished 27 seconds later.
All of the above ran their best times of the season.
Shelby Miller (47th, 22:09), Tessa Siebert (50th, 22:43) and Elissa Richert (61st, 24:04) rounded out the women’s performances.
“We ran outstanding races today,” Hunt said. “Seven women and eight men ran personal record times. We have a fast course and we normally do not get to run it this late in the season.”
Tabor (79 points) edged out Friends (84) and trailed only Kansas Wesleyan (54) and Southwestern (43) in team scoring on the women’s side.
The men were led to a fourth-place team finish by all-conference runner Zac Remboldt (27:45), who placed 10th overall.
“Zac ran in the 27s for the first time in his career—he has developed steadily over his three college seasons,” Hunt said.
Caleb Schroeder (17th, 28:14) was next to finish. “Caleb really turned it up a couple notches for conference as he ran in the 28s for the first time,” Hunt said.
Dan Sigley (25th, 28:38) turned in a season-best performance. Justin Ball (32nd, 28:56) broke into the 28-minute range for the first time.
Adam McPeck (44th, 29:46) and Ric Johnson (45th, 29:50) ran together, and both cracked the 30-minute barrier for the first time. Michael Adamyk (60th, 33:13), Warren McKamey (63rd, 34:39) and Nathan Adamyk (66th, 38:00) each improved his time by a large margin.
“Michael lowered his by a minute, Warren was 31⁄2 minutes faster, and Nathan lowered his PR by 4 minutes,” Hunt said. “All three showed great progress.”
“It is a great experience for us to be able to compete in a meet of this importance on our home course—I think we really took advantage of that experience.”
Andrew Topham (26:25), a graduate of Peabody-Burns High School, earned all-conference honors with a second-place finish for Southwestern. Centre High alumnus Justin Garrard (28:34) placed 21st for Ottawa.
Southwestern won with 20 points, followed by McPherson (72), Friends (89) and Tabor (107).
Coming—Tabor travels to Omaha and will run its regional race at Lakeview Golf Course on Saturday. Hosted by College of Saint Mary’s, the event has the men set to run at 10:30 a.m and the women follow at 11:30 a.m.
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