The UW Oshkosh women’s and men’s cross country teams placed 12th overall at the Augustana College Interregional Invite on Oct. 14.

In the women’s 6,000-meter race the Titans placed 12th out of 42 teams with the effort being led by junior Cyna Madigan who placed 53rd with a time of 23:05.8. Junior Amelia Lehman placed 68th with a time of 23:23.9 while sophomore Josophine Makurat placed 83rd with a time of 23:36.4 and freshman Gracie Buchinger placed 131st with a time of 24:06.4. Sophomore Jamie Catania placed 144th with a time of 24:13.8.

In the men’s 8,000-meter race the Titans placed 12th out of 43 teams with sophomore Paul Proteau leading UWO with a 56th place finish at a time of 25:34.0. He was followed by junior Jake Krause in 57th place with a time of 25:35.8 and sophomore Cameron Cullen in 59th with a time of 25:37.6. Senior Joe Kehoe placed 99th with a time of 25:55.0 and fellow senior Jason Ford placed 138th with a time of 26:14.1.

Sophomore Cameron Cullen, who passed his previous personal best by seven seconds, said he was happy about the way he ran despite the course conditions. 

“It was a very flat course, definitely the flattest we have run on this year, it also got very muddy as well because of the rain that happened the previous day, but overall it was a really good course.” Cullen said.

Cullen also spoke on some of the runners that have been recovering from injuries earlier in the season starting to come back in the races at the end of the season.

“One of our top guys who we lost earlier in the season ran last week and he is definitely on the come up,” he said. “We are hoping to get him back and healthy, along with a few other runners we are recovering so we are definitely getting the pieces back together.”

Coach Eamon McKenna also showed the same sentiment and commented on the effort the team has been making in dealing with those nagging injuries.

“We have had to be creative and flexible in dealing with some of the injuries.” McKenna said. “Most of our injured athletes have done a great job of being consistent and aggressive with cross-training to help them stay aerobically fit while they rehab and incorporate the running volume they are allowed. It is always frustrating to deal with injuries, but we are managing it as best we can.”

Looking ahead, only one race remains until the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference championship and for the next race McKenna plans to rest some of the top runners and allow for the back half of the team to compete with some pressure.

“This Friday we are sitting out our top 10 runners of each gender,” McKenna said. “We are racing off for 1-2 conference spots, as each team gets to enter 12 runners at the WIAC championships. It will be a nice opportunity for our back half of the teams to compete with a little pressure.”

The next race for the Titans is the UW-Whitewater Warhawk Open on Oct. 20. The men’s race begins at 4 p.m. followed by the women’s race at 4:45 p.m.