Koby Hagen ’06 won the MIAC women’s cross country championship on Saturday, becoming the first Scot to do so since Julia Kirtland ’86 in 1986. Hagen placed first out of 282 runners with a time of 18 minutes, 46 seconds in the 5-kilometer race at Como Park Golf Course, helping the Scots attain a sixth-place team finish. Three other Scots broke 20 minutes: Anna Gordon ’06 placed 30th at 19:50, Renee Schaefer ’04 placed 34th at 19:54 and Anna Shamey ’07 placed 42nd at 19:59. Nathalia Brashear ’06, the Scot’s fifth finisher, just missed the 20-minute mark at 47th place with a time of 20:02.
Hagen has been running well all season, but she said that she still sees room for improvement in her race. “Personally, I have to take more risks in my race, which means running the first mile faster. It would be extremely exciting to go Nationals, but primarily I want to learn by trying new strategies and come out of Regionals positive to start afresh in the next season,” Hagen said.
The NCAA Central Regionals at Grinnell, on Saturday, Nov. 15, is the Scots’ next race. “As a team, our goal is to put all our energy into the NCAA Regionals and come out of it positively,” Hagen said. “We are up against some competitive and experienced teams. We are a young team and we know there is always a chance to go to Nationals but if we don't, we also know that we have a hopeful future to achieve this since our team is growing, both in size and running experience,”
Meanwhile, the Men’s team placed fourth overall at the MIAC championship meet. Five Scots finished in the top 30, all of whom managed to place within 34 seconds of each other. Bo Rydze ’05 placed 13th with a time of 26:22 on the 8-kilometer course, earning all-conference honors. Roscoe Sopiwnik ’06 placed 16th at 26:29, Eric Olson ’05 placed 18th at 26:34, Jordan Selbo ’06 placed 25th at 26:50 and Tom Hammer ’07 placed 28th at 26:56. The fourth place finish was the Scots’ best since 1986 and they had their lowest score since 1971. Like the women, the men now head for the NCAA Central Regionals at Grinnell.
First-year Jonathan Barrentine has been known to strip down to skimpy shorts and run past screaming onlookers (no doubt yelling for him to put his pants back on). E-mail Jonathan at jbarrentine@macalester.edu to remind him of the importance of pants.
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Sophomore Koby Hagen is Macalester’s athlete of the week. Picture courtesy Athletic Department.
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The men’s cross country team at the starting line. Photo courtesy Athletic Department.
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