UWS Men Earn Top Ten

NSO – NEWS RELEASE

Last week the Yellowjacket men’s cross country team got the 2014 season off to a roaring start, placing second overall at the UW-River Falls Falcon Invitational. Junior Charles Corbett (Park Falls, Wis./Chequamegon) led the charge, placing first overall. Still, even though the Yellowjackets weren’t the runners-up and Corbett didn’t win the event, Saturday’s performance at the St. Olaf Invitational may have been more impressive.

The Yellowjackets placed a respectable ninth out of 16 teams with 238 points, but were fifth among NCAA Division III teams. The University of Sioux Falls (NCAA Division II) won the event with 49 points. UW-Eau Claire was the top WIAC team, placing second with 56 points. St. Olaf, Carleton College, Michigan Tech (Division II), Minnesota State Mankato (Division II) and an unattached running club also placed ahead of the Yellowjackets. Grant Wintheiser of St. Olaf won the race, finishing with a time of 24:52.6.

“We knew our times would be a little down at this event because we did just compete last weekend and we put the team through a tough week of practice, but we are happy with our placement as a team,” Yellowjacket Head Coach Glen Drexler said. “Our top two guys medaled by placing in the top 25 and I think they are learning that they can compete very well with some of the runners that placed in the top ten.”

Corbett was again the top finisher for the Yellowjackets, coming in with a time of 26:25.2, which was good for 19th place among 246 runners. Jackson Lindquist (Thomson, Minn./Esko) also had a good race, finishing 25th overall after completing the eight-kilometer course in 26:43.6.

Yellowjacket Finishers
Charles Corbett (Park Falls, Wis./Chequamegon) – 26:25.2
Jackson Lindquist (Thomson, Minn./Esko) – 26:43.6
Cam Tiberg (Forest, Wis./Glenwood City) – 27:54.0
Jordan Koski (Park Falls, Wis./Chequamegon) – 28:05.4
Evan Walpole (Superior, Wis./Superior) – 28:06.9
Ed Martin (Chetek, Wis./Chetek-Weyerhaeuser) – 29:50.0
Aaron Peterson (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet) – 30:30.7
Mieszko Brikis (Berlin, Germany/Katholische Schule Liebfrauen) – 31:24.8
Brandon Haling (Janesville, Wis./Craig) – 32:27.2
Nick Nemec (Ashland, Wis./Ashland) – 37:41.8
Ernesto Soto (Rockford, Ill./East) – 45:17.1

“The weather was a factor today. We have cooled off up here and aren’t used to the temps that we saw today but the team fought through it,” Drexler said. “Like I said we also had the tough week of practice so we knew times were going to drop off a little bit, but we still competed hard and in the process we finished ahead of some nationally ranked teams, so all in all we’re happy with the results today. Now we have a couple of weeks between events so we can heal up a little bit and get them ready for another race that is going to have some real quality competition.”

Next up for the Yellowjackets is the Blugold Invite, hosted by WIAC rival UW-Eau Claire. The meet, scheduled for Friday, October 3 will get underway at 3:00 p.m. in Colfax, Wis.