The Ottawa Campus

Issue date: 11/18/08 Section: Sports

Media Credit: Sarah Blecha Senior Justin Garrard races to a second place finish at the KCAC Championship meet on Saturday, Nov. 8 at Bethany College.

Heading into the KCAC cross country national championship senior Justin Garrard was seen as one of the top runners in the KCAC and he didn't disappoint. Garrard finished 2nd with a time of 25:29, qualifying for his third Nationals appearance in four years. To become an All-American, Justin must finish in the top 30 out of a field of over 400 runners. Garrard ran a personal best 25:29, beating his old score by 45 seconds.

When asked about what he might do differently at Nationals this year, he said, "I will back off of my training so that I can be primed and ready to go. I believe that I have a realistic shot, because of all of the experience I have."

As a team the Braves came up just short of finishing in second place at the KCAC meet, just 21 points shy of qualifying for Nationals. The team had three freshmen, a sophomore and a senior finish in the top 30.

Many people may assume that with such a young team the cross country program would be looking to rebuild but head cross country coach Kirk Wren is focusing on right now.

"We're not looking toward the future. We're contending for right now, but we do have such a young team that if they stay healthy and stay together we should be good for years to come like we have been," Wren said.

One young runner may have surprised some people at the KCAC championships. OU freshman Brandon Garcia finished in 12th place with a time of 26:27, just nine seconds from qualifying for Nationals. Freshman Jacob McMillan also ran a good race, finishing just outside the top 20, coming in 22nd place with a time of 27:08. Sophmore Caj Kueffer finished in 26th place with a time of 27:51. Freshman Lucas Straub rounded out the top 30 running in a time of 28:19.

Other Brave runners included junior Colt Coffin in 43rd (29:25), freshman Shawn Flach in 55th (30:29), senior Devin Scott in 56th (30:36), freshman Nathaniel Straub in 57th (30:38), senior Shawn Stottlemire in 58th (31:35) and Jacob Nelson 70th (38:43).

The Lady Braves cross country team finished 8th at the KCAC Championships. The highest finisher was junior Hilary Bruce coming in 37th place with a time of 23:18.

Bruce said it was a fun year, she has improved a lot and expressed her hopes to do well in her upcoming senior year. Others finishers for the Lady Braves included senior Ashley Solomon in 50th (25:04), senior Sarah Blecha in 54th (27:13), freshman Courtney Harris in 55th (27:43) and freshman Meghan Kearney in 56th place with a time of (28:51).

Garrard will be running at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, on Saturday, Nov. 22, in Kenosha, Wis., at 11:15am.

"Justin is one of the nicest kids I have ever coached. One of the toughest ones, as well, and I mean that as a treat. He wants to run so hard every single day but its tough on your body and sometimes we have to slow him down. It has been so much fun coaching him. Good things happen to good people and Justin has been a good leader and leads by example," Wren said.

Page 1 of 1

Article Tools