By Brendon Paucek, UWEC Sports Information
Platteville, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – In a meet unlike any other this year, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire men's and women's cross country teams competed together in the same field at the Pioneer Gender-Equity Invited hosted by UW-Platteville. As a combined team, the Blugolds took first place, scoring 74 points and narrowly beating UW-La Crosse's co-ed squad (81).
Although the men raced 8,000m and the women 6,000m, the race start times were precisely calculated to create a competitive finish; the men began their race two minutes and forty seconds before the women.
Leading the charge for the Blugolds was Gretchen Berg (Sr. - Nashotah, WI/Arrowhead), who earned fourth place overall and completed the 6,000m course in 24:08. Just seconds behind was Lian Arzbecker (Jr. - Pewaukee, WI/Pewaukee), who earned seventh place (24:13).
"Overall, I was happy with my race," said Berg. "I was able to stay in contact with the lead pack for the whole race and held my position through to the end."
Leading the men's race was the trio of Matt Schrupp (Jr. - Winona, MN/Cotter), Tyler Kobilarcsik (So. - Chanhassen, MN/Chanhassen), and Anthony Dupont (So. - Mendota Heights, MN/Henry Sibley). The pack completed the 8,000m course in 14th (27:15), 15th (27:21), and 16th (27:22), respectively.
"It was fun getting to race at the front of the pack," said Schrupp. "A lot of us don't have the opportunity to do that in bigger meets."
Rounding out the Blugold's top seven were Erika Owens (Sr. - Chilton, WI/Chilton) and Ben Carmichael (So. - Milwaukee, WI/WI Lutheran). Owens was 18th (24:50, 6k), and Carmichael was 21st (27:39, 8k).
Overall, both the men and women thought the combined race was a good experience.
"I thought combing the men's and women's races was a fun and interesting way to see how the men and women's teams together matched up against the other schools," said Berg.
"The race is a cool concept and I hope our team chooses to race it for years to come," said Schrupp.
For the runners racing the Gender Equity invite, it was their last race of the season; however, the team's top seven runners will compete at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Meet this Saturday, November 12, at UW-Oshkosh.
