http://www.miac-online.org/news/2011/10/17/MXC_1017110427.aspx

MIAC Men's Cross Country Athlete-of-the-Week

Ben Sathre, St. Thomas
Chaska, Minn. / Chaska

St. Thomas senior Ben Sathre (Chaska, Minn.) has picked his spots thus far in 2011, but he has chosen very wisely. Saturday, Sathre ran just his second race of the fall, but ran to his second victory, finishing first at the 2011 Princeton (N.J) Invitational against a field of talented runners, including 11 Division I teams. As a result, Sathre also won his second MIAC Men's Cross Country Athlete-of-the-Week honor of 2011 in just a three-week span in 2011, and the fifth of his career.

Sathre's latest first-place finish came courtesy of a winning time of 24:29 in the 8K race. He beat runner-up Kevin McDonnell of St. Joseph's (Pa.) by 25 seconds, and he also finished ahead of a pair of Division III All-Americans from defending national champion Haverford by more than 40 seconds each. Sathre's second win of the season is also his seventh win in his last nine races dating back to 2010. In his last four, he won last year's regional meet (180 runners), finished second at nationals (279 runners) and won both races this season with fields of 279 and 139 runners, respectively. Sathre's victory helped St. Thomas finish 13th as a team at the Princeton Invite.

The next chance Sathre will have to continue his streak will be in two weeks with a conference title on the line. The 2011 MIAC Cross Country Championships will be held Saturday, Oct. 29, at Como Park Golf Course in St. Paul. The women will run at 2:15 p.m. with the men to follow at 3:15 p.m. Sathre finished seventh at last year's MIAC Championships to earn All-Conference honors.

MIAC Women's Cross Country Athlete-of-the-Week

Bailey Drewes, Saint Benedict
Bemidji, Minn. / Bemidji

The Saint Benedict women's cross country team had a dominant showing Saturday at the Crown Invitational, placing six runners in the individual Top 10 and winning the team title. Leading the way to victory was freshman standout Bailey Drewes (Bemidji, Minn.), who finished second overall in the race, and put her name in the Blazers' record book in the process. For her outstanding performance, Drewes has been named the MIAC Women's Cross Country Athlete-of-the-Week.

Drewes finished at the runner-up in St. Bonifacius Saturday by completing the hilly 6K course in just 22:35. Her time wasn't just the second-fastest at the meet, but it also earned Drewes a spot in Saint Benedict history, as it is the second-fastest 6K time ever by a Blazer runner. The only runner to finish faster was UM-Morris junior Linda Keller (21:17.70). In addition to Drewes in second, CSB runners finished 4th-7th and ninth to rack up a team score of 24, which beat second-place St. Scholastica by 55 points.

Saint Benedict hopes its dominant performance and its standout freshman both carry momentum over to its next race, which will be the 2011 MIAC Women's Cross Country Championship, which will be held Saturday, Oct. 29, at Como Park Golf Course in St. Paul. The women will run at 2:15 p.m., with the men to follow at 3:15 p.m. Last year, the Blazers finished sixth and enter this year's meet hoping their talented additions can boost them into the top five.

 Courtesy of MIAC