St. Olaf - Regionals

This year, St. Olaf was the host of the 2007 NCAA D-III XC regional meet. The race was the best organized regional meet I have ever run – possibly because the site will host the D-III national meet this year, so the race was a test run for the national meet. The course was exceptionally marked, the races ran on time, and of course the quality of the competition was top notch.
CSS’s starting box was at the far left end of the starting line, and the race’s first turn was to the right, so I knew that I had to go out fast if I did not want to be cut off. As the gun went off I took off like a shot. Perhaps with a little too much enthusiasm. I ended up leading the race through the first mile, and I was with the lead pack for almost the first half of the race. In the long run this might not have been a good race strategy, but seeing as this was my last colligate XC race I was willing to go out with a bang so to speak. Shortly after the half way point I began to fade slightly, but did stay consistent and really kicked it in the last mile. I finished in 27:26, was first on my team, and the first UMAC conference runner. My time was almost :25 seconds faster than the St. Olaf pre-nationals meet the month before. It was fun to lead the regional race, and even though I went out a little fast at the start I was happy to be able to have a course best at my last college XC race.
The rest of the CSS runners in the races (men’s and women’s) all did well too. There were several outstanding performances, including PR’s by Tyler Kjorstad, Amelia Donars, Tara Connolly, and fellow senior Maggie Kading. Julia Curry also had a great race receiving all region honors.
In some ways this race was a little bitter sweet for me because each fall for the last 12 years I have raced Cross Country. Now after having done this for over half of my life it is all over. But on the other hand it is exciting to (after ski season) begin a new chapter in my running career – competitive marathons and ultras!