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St. Olaf men edge out Carleton to qualify for nationals for the first time in 23 years

Joel Tortomasi
November 20, 2002

The Oles finished second to Carleton in the MIAC Cross Country meet two weeks ago, but tied with them with a point total of 116 for the fourth and final qualifying spot at the Central Regions race in Grinnell, Iowa on Saturday, November 16th. The rulebook had to be broken out to decide which team would be representing the Region with the final spot. The two teams were scored in a head to head competition and the Oles wound up the victor.

The Oles ran yet another impressive team race, with the top five runners finishing within a mere 35 seconds of each other, as well as having their sixth and seventh runner across the finish line in just over a minute. The Oles were lead by Kelly Fulton (So, Billings, Mont.) in 13th place with a time of 25.31, he was followed very closely by Mark Sullivan (Sr. West Bend, Wis.) 18th in 25.39. Leading the second Ole pack was Christopher Coffey (Sr, Dubuque, Iowa) 25th in 25.59, Robert Hillard (Sr, Colombia, Mo.) 27th in 26.01 and Malcolm Richards (So, Minneapolis, Minn.) rounded out the top five finishing in 33rd in 26.06.

All of the Oles scoring positions earned All-Region honors by finishing in the top 35. The sixth and seventh Ole varsity spots were filled by Joel Tortomasi (Sr. Hartford, Wis.) placing 49th and running 26.29 while Peder Arneson (Jr, Montevideo, Minn.) crossed the line in 26.37 and placed 58th.

Nebraska Wesleyan won the Regional title with an impressive 44 points. The Prairie Wolves were closely followed by Wartburg, (62) and St. Thomas (98) who ran a tremendous team race after placing 3rd at the MIAC Championships. The final spot was left for the St. Olaf and Carleton 116 point tie.

The Oles now are looking forward to racing for a very respectable and memorable finish in the NCAA Division III Championships after being kept out as a team every year since 1979. The meet will be contested at St. Olaf on November 23, 2002. The Men's race will start at 11:00am and the Women's at 12:00.

Contact Le Ann Finger at 507-786-3315 or finger@stolaf.edu.