JOPLIN, Mo. -- The nationally-ranked Augustana cross country teams kept to their winning ways with both the men's and women's teams winning Central Region Championships in Joplin, Missouri, on Saturday morning.

"We had a goal of going into the NCAA Regional this weekend running aggressively and packing it up and certainly getting qualified for the NCAA's," Director of Track & Field/Cross Country Tracy Hellman said. "Both teams had tremendous days and are in a great spot heading into the NCAA Championships in two weeks.

"We have good spreads with our packs but we need to continue to close those gaps here in two weeks."

The No. 3 nationally-ranked Vikings started the day by defending their 2019 Central Region title.

Augustana started the race with championship intentions, having the top-seven within the top fifteen at the mile mark with Patty Jo English and Megan Means leading the charge coming through in 5:27.

Means took the lead at the second mile coming through in 10:48.

By the third mile, the Vikings had their top-five within the top sixteen spots, with Means now in second, coming through the third mile in 16:25. Nicolette Schmidt was the second Viking through the mile mark in third place.

English was the third Viking to pass the three-mile marker coming through in fifth. Rounding out the top-five for Augustana was Rachel Rairdon and Rebekah Rairdon coming through in 14th and 16th, respectively.

At the finish, Means led the Vikings placing second overall in a time of 20:32.45.

Schmidt moved up to place third overall in 20:53.88. English had a fifth-place finish to make three Vikings within the top-five.

Rachel Rairdon moved up considerably in the latter half of the race to place ninth in 21:08.97.

Rebekah Rairdon rounded out the top-five scorers for Augustana placing 14th in a time of 21:16.62

Haylee Waterfall and Mia Salas both had top-25 finishes, placing 22nd and 25th, respectively Those finishes solidified all seven Augustana runners earning individual All-Region honors.

All seven Vikings ran times much faster than the times ran at the conference meet two weeks before, holding an average time of 20:59 at the regional meet compared to 21:51 at the conference meet.

The men followed the actions of the women, starting the race with the Vikings pushing from the front.

At the halfway point, Augustana accounted for five of the top six spots with Ryan Hartman and Kray Person both coming through in 14:53.4. Evan Johnson and Henry Klitzke both came through in 14:53.8 with Austin Miller close behind in 14:54.

The men of Augustana had a strong showing with three Vikings completing the 10,000m course under 30 minutes.

Hartman led the way for the Vikings, placing fourth overall in 29:46.14. Miller followed close behind in 29:56.43 to place fifth.

Person placed seventh, three seconds behind Miller in 29:59.17.

Augustana's scoring was rounded out with Alec Kray and Johnson placing 13th and 14th in 30:12.96 and 30:13.79, respectively.

The Vikings spread was 32 seconds from the first finisher to the seventh with a 27 second spread between the top-five finishers.

Klitzke and Matt Steiger both placed within the top-20 to ensure All-Region honors, placing 16th and 18th in times of 30:17.23 and 30:18.32, respectively.

The men of Augustana followed the women by having all seven runners earning individual All-Region honors.

This is the first time in program history that both the men's and women's teams had all seven runners earn All-Region honors.

"Overall it was a great day for the program and we are motivated and excited for our finish at the NCAA's in Florida," Hellman added.

Up Next
The Vikings return to action for the final time this season, on Saturday, Nov. 20, heading to the NCAA Championships in Tampa, Florida.

--GoAugie.com--