WAYNE, Neb. -- The nationally-ranked Augustana cross country teams cleaned up at the NSIC Championships, with both teams winning NSIC titles in Wayne, Nebraska, on Saturday morning.
On top of the team titles, the Vikings had the NSIC Newcomer of the Year in Ryan Hartman as well as Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Tracy Hellman being tabbed NSIC Coach of the Year for both the men and women.
"I'm very pleased with our team efforts today at the NSIC Championships," Hellman said. "We had a goal to win both titles and we certainly had some impressive efforts from many athletes on the team.
"What I am most excited about is our team spreads, our women's 20 seconds and men's 22 seconds from one through five in championship meets is really impressive."
The women of Augustana started the day by winning its first conference title since 2014. The Vikings' depth and pack-running were a huge part of the success of the championships.
The men of Augustana swept the top-five spots, placing a perfect score of 15. Just as impressive, the Vikings' top-five average was a blistering 25:01.34. Senior Austin Miller broke the course record set by Aaron Runge at the 2019 conference meet.
"Austin had one of his best races of his career," Hellman added. "He had a disappointing race down in Arkansas and was determined to bounce back. That is a great thing for our team to see."
The No. 3 Viking women ran a near-perfect race, scoring 20 points to handily win the conference title. Augustana placed its top-five within the top six, taking spots two through six. The average time was 21:15.12 amongst the top-five Vikings.
"The women had a mission of bringing the conference title back to Augie and were impressive in their race," Hellmen said.
Patty Jo English led the way for the Vikings earning a runner-up finish at 21:41, Megan Means was close behind placing third in 21:42.10.
Nicolette Schmidt placed fourth in the field, running down the chute in a time of 21:50.
Rebekah Rairdon and Rachel Rairdon claimed the fifth and sixth places running almost identical times with Rebekah running 22:01.10 and Rachel coming in at 22:01.20.
On the men's side, Miller finished in a time of 24:48.70 to lead the Vikings to a perfect score with the second-place team, UMary, 68 points behind Augustana. Freshman Ryan Hartman earned a runner-up finish running a time of 25:01.10.
Henry Klitzke placed third (25:03.40), Kray Person placed fourth (25:05.20), Colten Brand placed fifth (25:08.30) to round out the scorers, Evan Johnson placed sixth in 25:10.60 to give Augustana the top-six finishers in the race.
Augustana's two through six runners, who placed second through sixth in the race, all finished within nine seconds of each other, once again proving the strength and depth of this No. 4 nationally-ranked Augustana team.
In total, Augustana had 15 All-Conference runners, eight from the women and seven from the men.
"As exciting as it was, we know there is better racing ahead at the NCAA Central Regional and the NCAA National meet awaits," Hellman added. "As always it is a great day to be a Viking!"
Up Next
The Vikings return to action on Saturday, Nov. 6, for the NCAA Central Regional hosted by Missouri Southern.
--GoAugie.com--
