2011 MIAC Men's Cross Country Championship Preview

http://www.miac-online.org/news/2011/10/20/MXC_1020113213.aspx

ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The 2011 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Men's Cross Country Championships will take place Saturday, Oct., 29, with plenty of intriguing storylines. However, the most prevalent is whether or not Hamline University will repeat the sheer dominance of its 2010 performance in its quest for a third-straight championship.

Saturday's race will be held at Como Park Golf Course in St. Paul, Minn., for the 14th consecutive season. The men's 8K race will begin at 3:15 p.m., following the women’s race at 2:15 p.m. Saint Mary's University is the host school for 2011 MIAC Cross Country Championships, which welcomes back 11 of the top 15 runners from a year ago.

In 2010, the men's field appeared to be highly competitive heading into the championships, until Hamline stunned the large crowd in a blaze of maroon and silver. The Pipers - led by individual champion Devin Monson - claimed four of the top six places and five of the 15 All-Conference spots en route to a comfortable win. The scary thing is, this year, Head Coach Paul Schmaedeke's team could be even better.

The Pipers enter as the prohibitive favorites, and headline two MIAC teams in the national rankings and five ranked in the Top 10 in the Central Region. Hamline is ranked No. 25 in Division III and No. 2 in the Region, and has had several jaw-dropping team performances this fall, led by Monson and fellow senior Jack Deichert, who finished fourth at last year's MIAC Championships. St. Olaf will be the Pipers chief competition as the Oles hold the No. 32 ranking in the nation and are just a spot behind Hamline at No. 3 in the Region Top 10. St. Olaf was the runner-up last year, and the last team other than the Pipers to win a MIAC title in 2008.

Saint John's, which claimed back-to-back titles in 2006 and 2007, will also be trying to unseat Hamline and finish in the Top 3 once again. The Johnnies were third a year ago and are ranked sixth in the Central Region. St. Thomas and Bethel finished fourth and fifth a year ago, respectively, and appear in the Region rankings. The Tommies are currently ranked No. 8 and the Royals are a spot back at No. 9 in the Central Region Top 10.

Rounding out last year's field was Carleton in sixth, Concordia in seventh, Gustavus in eighth, this year's host Saint Mary's in ninth, Augsburg at No. 10 and Macalester rounding out the field at No. 11. Concordia and Saint Mary's both have some talented runners back in their lineups, and are among the candidates from this group, along with Carleton, to make a jump into the upper echelon of the final standings.

While it will be interesting to see how the team race plays out - and whether any of the contenders can threaten Hamline's three-peat chances - the race for the individual championship and All-Conference honors should create the day's real drama with an unbelievably strong field of veteran runners. The Top 15 individual finishers earn All-MIAC honors, with places 16-25 receiving Honorable Mention.

Monson won last year's race with a time of 25:38.7 and he'll be among the favorites again this year, but there are several other seniors in the field who could make just as strong a case for their chances at finishing first. Among them are Monson's teammate, Diechert, who has several strong performances this fall in addition to his fourth-place finish last year. The Pipers also return All-MIAC runners Colin Rogers (fifth in 2010) and senior Ellis Richardson (15th).

Also contending for the individual title will be seniors Tom Sederquist of Concordia and St. Thomas' Ben Sathre. Sederquist was the runner-up to Monson in last year's race and has long been one of the league's top runners, so another Top-3 finish or even a conference title would be a fitting conclusion to his career. Meanwhile Sathre used his seventh-place finish at the MIAC meet a year ago as a springboard to a first-place finish at the Region meet and a second-place finish in the Division III National Championships, and he's won both of his races this fall against large, talented fields.

Other returning All-MIAC runners include Bethel junior Zach Haskins (eighth in 2010), Saint John's senior Ruairi Moynihan (11th), St. Thomas senior Tyler Iverson (13th) and Saint Mary's senior David Feather (14th).

One new twist at this year's race is a service project headed up by the Bethel cross country teams and Head Coach Jim Timp. The Royals are collecting old running shoes for a non-profit organization called GreenSneakers EcoChallenge for Education. GreenSneakers provides the used shoes to places in the world where people have an otherwise hard time attaining them. There will be bins at Como Park Golf Course Saturday to collect the shoe donations to contribute to this unique and relevant service project.

The MIAC Championships will conclude with a short awards ceremony to honor the team and individual champions and All-Conference runners near the clubhouse following the end of the men's race. The MIAC has a Web page dedicated to the event, and complete results, recaps, photos and more will be available on that site following the event. Webcast America will also be offering on-demand video highlights of both races following the event on its Web site.

The MIAC would like to thank Saint Mary's for its effort in hosting this year's meet, Como Park Golf Course, Webcast America and Twin Cities Orthopedics, which will provide on-site athletic training and medical services.

Links:
2011 MIAC Cross Country Championships Website
2011 MIAC Women's Cross Country Championship Preview
2011 MIAC Men's Cross Country Composite Schedule
USTFCCCA Division III Cross Country Rankings

Team-by-Team Previews: AUG | BU | CAR | CON | GAC | HU | MAC | SJU | SMU | STO | UST |

Courtesy of MIAC