Junior, Laura Feeney, paced all conference runners in the Midwest Regional Championships by placing eighth in the race and qualifying for nationals.
The men’s and women’s cross-country teams competed in the Great Lakes Regional meet this past weekend, with Kalamazoo College in Kalamazoo, Michigan hosting the meet. Division three teams from Ohio, Indiana and Michigan participated in the meet. The top individual finishers and highest-placing teams at regionals go on to compete in nationals.
On the women’s side there were a total of 27 schools represented. The Yeowomen finished 12th overall. Coach Roger Laushman was very proud of his team’s finish. “This was an excellent finish, considering the team was without junior co-captain Lori Tuchfeld, who
suffered a broken bone in her left foot while finishing eighth at the conference championships,” said Laushman.
All seven runners that the women brought had season-best performances. Five clocked in with lifetime best finishes. Among those who ran lifetime bests was co-captain Feeney, of Staatsburg, New York, who finished eighth out of 202 total runners. Feeney finished with a time of 18:35, almost a minute better than the time she ran at the conference meet. Feeney, who finished third in the conference meet, beat all other North Coast Athletic Conference runners at
regionals.
Feeney’s eighth place finish earned her a spot in the division three national meet, which will be held at Augustana College in Rock Island, Ill. Feeney is the first women’s runner to qualify for nationals since Shannon Fox accomplished the feat in 1996. That year nationals were also held at Augustana College.
Laushman praised Feeney’s work ethic, crediting much of her success with an intensive 24 weeks of training and her resolve to win. All of Feeney’s hard work finally culminated at Kalamazoo. “It was very exciting to watch her progress throughout the race as she
moved into the pack of the top 10 runners and held form to the finish,” Laushman said.
Other top finishers for the Yeowomen included sophomore Julia Goeke, junior co-captain Kyle McKenzie, first-year Shannon Morris, and sophomore Abby Morris. Next year’s season looks very promising for the Yeowomen who return all of their conference runners and expect Lori Tuchfeld to recover from her injury.
The Yeomen finished a respectable 14th place at the regional meet. There were a total of 31 teams competing in the event. For the first time in a while the team felt that they were completely healthy going into a meet. All the men were planning on putting in as much effort as they could into the regional meet in hopes of qualifying for nationals.
The Yeomen were led by Captain Jon Rogers, a fifth-year from Potomac, Maryland, who finished in 39th place of 210 runners with a time of 26:51. Ryan McGinnis, a first-year from Walnut Creek, California, finished in 48th place with a time of 27:02 and Adam Greeney, a sophomore from Amherst, Massachusetts, finished in 60th place in a time of 27:19. Sophomore Alex Scally had a somewhat disappointing performance due to a foot injury in the race. Scally’s injury makes the Yeomen’s performance even more outstanding.
The team loses both Rogers and senior Hans Peterson to graduation; however, the team is keeping a strong nucleus of young runners who are poised to challenge for a conference championship next season. NCAC Newcomer of the Year, McGinnis, is looking forward to another shot at nationals next season.