Hawthorne leads Men's CC

October 3, 2003
The St. Thomas men's cross country team regained some of its team momentum after a strong performance at the Midwest Long and Short Course Championships last Friday hosted by UW-Eau Claire in Colfax, Wis.

The Tommies managed to place third in the men's 8,000-meter race despite holding out five of their top runners. St. Thomas finished behind MIAC competitors St. Olaf (53) and St. John's (58) while edging out UW-Platteville (78) and UW-Eau Claire (79).

Freshmen Will Hawthorne of Hopkins led the Tommies with a third-place finish and a personal-best time of 25:45.7 out of 133 total runners.

"The weather was great and Will ran the best race he has had as a collegiate runner to date," commented UST coach Pete Wareham.

Also contributing to the Tommies were soph John Schwerkoske (16th, 26:25.4); Corey Fusco (26th, 25:50.9); senior Bill Kretsch (30th, 26:59.2); Colin Sullivan (34th, 27.09.2); Franz Klein (39th, 27:27.2); Brian Hauge (60th, 27:58.1); and Kaleb Stromberg (84th, 28:47.8).

"Overall the team performed very well," Wareham said. "I was pleased with their preparation over the past couple of weeks and their attitude. Today was just an extension of the same and the result is that many set PR's.

"We are still trying to develop our young runners so it was very good to see Will have a strong race. He ran intelligently and you could really see his focus and concentration were very good. This race should help boost his confidence. It was only his second collegiate 8K cross country race".

In addition to Hawthorne, several other Tommies had a good day at the race. Kretsch, who has struggled with injuries for the past year, was rewarded with a PR for all of his hard work. "Bill had a great race and I hope it will build some momentum for his senior year," replied Wareham.

Sullivan (SO-Chippewa Falls, Wis./McDonnell HS) race a PR on a course that he is very familiar. "Colin told me he has attended this race for many years during his high-school career so it was fun to see him have a good race on a course near his hometown," Wareham said.

The Tommies will compete on October 11 at the Dan Huston Invitational, hosted by Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa. "It looks like several of the top teams in the Central Region will be at the meet, including Carleton, Wartburg, and Nebraska Wesleyan," Wareham said. "The Tommies will run most of our runners in the 4K at Wartburg in preparation for the following weekend, where we go to Lafayette University (Pennsylvania).

Probable Line-Ups for Dan Huston Invite
---4K Race: Nate Coleman, Sean Brenckman, Derek Harmon, Brock Stepan, Tristan Christ, Will Hawthorne, John Schwerkoske
---8K Race: Jeff Goeden, Jason Overson

see link to complete results here