WEST SALEM, Wis. — It was a tale of two teams for Saint Mary's University cross country coach
Ward Berndt.
There was the healthy team, and the not-so-healthy team.
And the difference was obvious.
The Cardinal men, fueled by
David Feather's (Oak Creek, Wis.) career-best eight-kilometer time, raced to a 24th-place finish in the 33-team UW-La Crosse Jim Drews Invitational field, while the Cardinal women, bitten by the flu bug, also settled for a 24th-place effort in UW-La Crosse Tori Neubauer Invitational Saturday afternoon.
“The guys ran a great race — we had virtually everyone turn in season-best or career-best time, which was great to see,” said Berndt. “The times weren't as good as we were hoping for on the women's side, but that was mainly because we are still trying to get everyone healthy.”
Feather broke the tape in 26:44 to lead the way for the SMU men, while Peter Borash (Bowlus, Minn.) was close behind with a time of 27:19. Jake Traxler (LeSueur, Minn. / 27:46), Quentin Moore (Minneapolis, Minn. / 28:01) and Robby McGuire (Rochester, Minn. / 28:02) rounded out the Cardinals' top five.
On the women's side, Rachel Folan (Glen Ellyn, Ill.) led the Cardinals' charge, stopping the clock in 24:52, followed by Ashley Acosta (Winnebago, Minn.), Danielle Miller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / 25:28), Joanna Pace (Minocqua, Wis. / 25:38) and Regina Quandt (Minneapolis, Minn. / 26:07).
“Overall, I'm pretty pleased with the performances,” said Berndt. “It was obvious that we had one healthy team and one not-so-healthy team. Hopefully, we can get everyone back on their feet and back to running the way they are capable as we draw closer to conference championships.”
