Monmouth College X-Country Women Are Up, Men Claim Awards @ MWC Champs

MONMOUTH, Ill. – Monmouth’s women ran to a runner up finish and two Scots’ men picked up prestigious awards at Saturday’s Midwest Conference Cross Country Championships hosted by Lake Forest.

      The Fighting Scots’ women equaled the program record with five all-conference runners to score 62 points, placing second behind league champion St. Norbert. It was Monmouth’s women’s highest finish since winning the crown in 2012. Monmouth’s men placed fourth with 104 points, trailing league champion Cornell, runner up Grinnell and third place Lake Forest.

      Monmouth’s men picked up special awards when junior Mike Bersell – an economics and accounting major – was awarded the men’s Elite 20 honor. The Elite 20 recognizes the student-athlete competing at the championships with the highest GPA. Freshman Riley Dulin brought home the men’s Newcomer of the Year award as the top rookie runner at the championships.

      Seniors Jessica Salinas and Natalia Bobak led Monmouth’s women’s charge in the top 20 to earn all-conference status as all five were first-time honorees. Salinas shaved nearly two minutes off her season-best to place seventh in 23:28.7. Bobak also ran a season-best time, clocking a 23:42.6 to finish 10^th, two places in front of Julia Sterr’s 23:54.5. Arika Hofmann and Caroline Young rounded out the Scots’ all-conference women. Hofmann placed 16^th with a 24:08.2, a spot ahead of Young who clocked a 24:10.0. The Scots’ two remaining scoring runners – Mik Moore-Kaczmarek and Kirsten Menke clocked a 24:18.2 and 24:42.5, respectively. Moore-Kaczmarek’s 22^nd place time was just four one-hundredths out of all-conference status.

      Tate Heiple earned his second all-league honor after trimming a full minute off his season-best time. The senior placed 13^th with a 26:31.7. Dulin and Cooper Hoffmann followed Heiple to all-conference status. Dulin clocked a 26:45.7 to place 16^th and Hoffman’s 27:07.0 placed him 20^th. Less than 30 seconds separated the Scots’ next three runners – Tanner Heiple (27:16.1, 24^th), Jay Gray (27:32.4, 31^st) and Caleb Kibling (27:42.5, 37^th). Griffin Morrill finished as Monmouth’s final scoring runner, placing 44^th in 27:58.5.

      The Scots will next travel to Eau Claire, Wis., for the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 10.