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Ole Mens Cross Country Victorious in Wisconsin

Lars Finanger
October 9, 2001

The Ole men raced to victory at the Midwest Long and Short Course Championships in Colfax, Wis. Friday, October 5. The joint meet hosted by UW-Eau Claire and UW-Stout, called for teams to split squads evenly into the 5k and 8k races. While St. Thomas ran away with the 5k title, placing five finishers in the top ten, the Ole runners finished second. The black and gold harriers then claimed a tie with Augustana for the 8k title. Meet directors took the top three finishers from each race and combined their places to determine the winners. St. Olaf finished with fifty-one total points, twenty ahead of second place Minnesota-Duluth.

Despite running in temperatures which dipped into the thirties and forties, the Oles toughed out the conditions and paced themselves to a second place finish in the 5k. Robert Hillard (Jr, Columbia, Miss) led a tight Ole pack with an eight place finish. Peter Arneson (So, Montevideo, Minn) followed Hillard and crossed the line in ninth. Mark Sullivan (Jr, West Bend, Wis.) sped through the course for a thirteenth place finish. Malcolm Richards (Fy, Minneapolis, Minn) edged out teammate Josh Steffens (Sr, Lake Geneva, Wis.) at the line and claimed the final scoring slot with his fifteenth place finish.

Andrew Cole (Sr, North Mankato, Minn) led a strong Ole pack that finished three runners in the top fifteen. While Cole claimed second place in the collegiate division, Kelly Fulton (Fy, Billings, Mont) sprinted across the line in sixth. Christopher Coffey (Jr, Dubuque, IA) paced the course to a thirteenth place finish and Joel Tortomasi (Jr, Beloit, Wis.) rounded out the scoring with his 27 place finish. Albert Pinsonneault (Sr, St. Paul, Minn) broke 28 minutes for the first time in his career and finished as the Oles fifth runner in the 8k.

The Oles will lace up their spikes next at 11:00 AM, Saturday, October 13th, at the Jim Drews Invitational hosted by the UW-LaCrosse.

Contact Judy Stromayer at 507-786-3315 or stromaye@stolaf.edu.