By Brendon Paucek, UWEC Sports Information
Northfield, Minn. (Blugolds.com) – Early on a cloudy Saturday morning, the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire's women's cross country team raced at the St. Olaf Invitational, earning fourth place in a field of 23 teams.
The women runners strategically ran in packs from start to finish, working together the entire race.
"The plan was to try be a little bit patient—really work together through two miles and then finish strong," said Coach Dan Schwamberger. "Most people did a good job of moving up."
Finishing near the top of the field were Blugold Captains Melody Becker (Sr. - Osseo, WI/Homeschooled) and Callie Fischer (Jr. - Onieda, WI/Ashwaubenon), placing 13th (23:31) and 17th (23:26) respectively.
"Overall, I think we did an excellent job on sticking to our race plan," said Becker. "The depth of our team was evident as we were able to place fourth as a team without the help of one of our top runners, Morgan Marek (So. - Muskego, WI/Muskego)."
Karen Gomez (So. - Chatfield, MN/Chatfield) and Lian Arzbecker (Jr. - Pewaukee, WI/Pewaukee) each ran smart races and finished the last third of race strong, placing 26th (23:51) and 34th (24:08).
Close behind were the Blugolds fifth and sixth runners Emily Jaeger (Fall Creek, WI/Fall Creek) and Samantha Slattery (Fr. - Waunakee, WI/Waunakee). Jaeger and Slattery finished 36th and 37th at the same time of 24:11.
"This tells us both teams' goals are realistic," Schwamberger said. "We just got to keep being smart."
The Blugolds women's runners will continue to train and prepare for their home meet, the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invite, which is on Friday, September 30 at Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax, WI.
