The UW Oshkosh cross-country team ran its final regular season race at the UW-Whitewater Warhawk Open. In the women’s 6,000-meter, the Titans placed first out of four teams, with Oshkosh runners taking up seven out of the top 10 spots at the finish line. In the men’s 8,000-meter race, the Titans placed third out of five teams, with four Oshkosh runners placing in the top-20 on Oct. 20.
In the women’s race, UWO was led by senior Meygan Benzing who set the pace with a season-best 25:19 finish for third place. Junior Paige Hagner followed directly behind with a time of 26:08 for fourth place and Olivia Schwarm finished with a time of 26:11 for fifth place.
Five more Titans filled out the top 10 in this race, with freshman Kate Haffner in sixth with a season-best time of 26:12, freshman Allison Van Der Wegen in seventh with a time of 26:17, freshman Dana Valdez-Berber in eighth with a time of 26:26, junior Katelyn Puetz in ninth with a time of 26:46 and sophomore Ella Galaszewski in 10th with a time of 26:55.
In the men’s race, UWO was led by freshman Jason Skinkis who ran a time of 27:53 for eighth place. Sophomore Owen Bostwick placed 11th with a time of 28:11, Nate Gindt placed 19th with a time of 28:32 and freshman Brady Lewis took 20th with a time of 28:45.
Skinkis said the course was difficult, although he managed to keep pace despite the terrain.
“Whitewater was definitely the hardest course we’ve seen this year,” he said. “There was a big hill on the backside of the course which made the finish a little challenging. I just found a group of people that I was able to run with, which made the first few miles easier than expected.”
Skinkis also said the competition of the race wasn’t the most difficult they had faced, but allowed for growth.
“The race was composed of three Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) schools, all racing for the last few conference spots, along with two other smaller schools,” he said. “The race definitely wasn’t stacked like we’d seen at previous meets, but there were still people ahead of me that I could work towards.”
Now, the official regular season has ended for the UWO cross-country team and they are looking towards the WIAC Championships. Head cross-country coach Eamon Mckenna said he believes the team can place high.
“At the conference, our minimum goal is to be in the top half of the conference with each team, although we believe we are good enough to be third on our best day,” he said. “Then we will re-evaluate before regionals.”
The Titans are going to Prescott High School in River Falls for the WIAC Championships on Saturday, Oct. 28. The men’s race is at 12 p.m., followed by the women’s race at 1 p.m.
