The UW Oshkosh women’s and men’s cross-country teams raced to the regular season finish line. The women placed third and the men placed in fifth, both out of eight teams, in the WIAC championships.

The WIAC championships gathered athletes from all corners of the state, 12 runners for each team, 96 competitors in all.

Steven Potter was the men’s team top finisher, with a time of 25:10.5, earning ninth place. Joseph Kehoe was second in 14th with a time of 25:24.9. A third Titan finished within the top 30, Cameron Cullen, finished in 28th place with a time of 26:04.0.

Amelia Lehman was the women’s top finisher in third place with a time of 22:13.2, earning All-WIAC first team honors. Libby Geisness finished at 23:19.6, earning 18th. Cyna Madigan finished in 21st with a time of 23:37.3. Meygan Benzing squeezed into the top 30 with a time of 23:55.5

Next in line for UW Oshkosh cross-country is regionals, which will be a massive event. Division III schools within Minnesota and Wisconsin compete to have a chance at appearing at the national level.

Head coach Eamon McKenna said that both teams are what Mckenna refers to as, ‘on the bubble,’ meaning that with a great day they can get in as a team, if not they hope to get to the individual national championship.

When it comes to individual runners, McKenna believes that Amelia Lehman has shown intense growth.

“She’s been in the top six runners in our past couple meets,” he said. “The only people beating her are national caliber, so I expect her to compete for a spot at the national championships.”

The performance Saturday was excellent, but that won’t be the last of UWO cross country this year. Regionals will be held at St. Olaf College (Mich) on Nov. 12, and coach McKenna feels ready for the team’s performance to close out the season.

“We have a lot of young first years. They’ve been doing an awesome job becoming part of our culture,” McKenna said “I’m excited to see how the rest of the year plays out.”