EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The cool and rainy conditions on Friday afternoon set the stage for another impressive performance by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's and men's cross country team who hosted the 2nd annual "City Wells" 5K on Friday, October 23rd at the Eau Claire municipal well fields on the north side of town.
UW-Eau Claire rested 12 women and 11 men in preparation for the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championship this Saturday but the Blugolds who did compete ran extremely strong.
Rebecca Whipple (So.-Madison, WI/West) led the way for the women winning the race in a PR time of 19:20. Whipple took the lead from the gun and looked great throughout the entire race. Her time is even more impressive considering she ran a time trial on the exact same course two months earlier at the start of the season in 20:17.
The next three finishers for the Blugolds also cracked the 20 minute barrier and were Katie George (Fr.- St. Paul, MN/Visitation) – 2nd place in 19:31, Emily Jaeger (Fr.-Fall Creek, WI) – 4th in 19:43 and Katie Wood (Jr.-Milwaukee, WI/South) – 5th in 19:45.
Rounding out the top 7 for the Blugold women were Maya Jourdan (Fr.- Wausau, WI/D.C. Everest) – 6th in 20:04, Laura Crave (Sr.-Waterloo, WI)-7th in 20:13 and Katie Carlino (Fr.-Franklin, WI))-8th in 20:14.
On the men's side Riley Huffman (So.-Oshkosh, WI/North) ran a smart race passing through 1600 meters in 5:02 and holding that pace the rest of the way to win in a PR time of 15:43, which is 43 seconds faster than he ran last year on the same course.
The Blugolds top 5 cracked the 16 minute barrier and included Matt Cyra (Jr.- Eagle, WI/Mukwonago) -2nd in 15:46, Tyler Kobilarcsik (Fr.-Chanhassen, MN)-3rd in 15:57, Hank Woloszyn (So.-Madison, WI/Edgewood)-4th in 15:58 and Patrick Treacy (Fr.-Eau Claire, WI/Memorial)-5th in 15:59.
Up next for the Blugolds is the WIAC Cross Country Championships, which will be hosted by UW-Oshkosh this Saturday, October 31 at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne. The women's 6K is at Noon followed by the men's 8K at 1 pm.