Men's Results / Women's Results

WAVERLY, Iowa — After watching David Feather (Oak Creek, Wis.) posted the highest individual finish Saint Mary's University men's cross country history with his 14th-place finish at the MIAC Championships two weeks ago, the question was an obvious one — what can he do for an encore?

The answer? A career-best eight-kilometer time of 26:12 — and an All-Region performance at the season-ending NCAA Central Regional.

Feather's 27th-place effort helped the Cardinal men place 16th in the 26-team field, while the SMU women — behind the efforts of Emily Dee (Racine, Minn.) — finished 19th in the 27-team women's field.

“It was a great way for us to end the season,” said SMU coach Ward Berndt. “All season we've talked about preparing ourselves to be at our best for the last two meets of the season (the MIAC Championships and the NCAA Regional), and that's exactly what we did.

“Everyone ran outstanding,” Berndt added. “David had a great race, as did Peter Borash (Bowlus, Minn.) on the guys side, while Emily ran one of her best races of the season to lead the way for the women.

“All around, it was a great performance.”

Along with Feather's career-best time of 26:12, the Cardinal men got a personal-best time of 26:26 from Borash, while Mike Wolter (Rushford, Minn. / 27:44), John Soucheray (Woodbury, Minn. / 27:48), Jake Traxler (Le Center, Minn. / 27:55), Robby McGuire (Rochester, Minn. / 27:56) and Benton Kodet (Northfield, Minn. / 29:01) rounded out the top seven.

On the women's side, Dee saved her best for last, touring the six-kilometer course in 24:36 in her final collegiate meet. Brittany Kuehn (Sauk Rapids, Minn. / 25:08), Joanna Pace (Minoqua, Wis. / 25:30) and Danielle Miller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / 25:45) also closed out their SMU careers with stellar efforts, while Regina Quandt (Minneapolis, Minn. / 25:11), Amy Spitzmueller (New Brighton, Minn. / 25:24) and Kristen Thelen (Rochester, Minn. / 25:43) completed the Cardinal top seven.

Grinnell took home the men's title, placing four in the top 30, while St. Thomas' Ben Sathre was the individual region champion, clocking a time of 24:56. Luther laid claim to the women's team crown, putting six runners in the top 25. Runner-up Wartburg got a first-place effort from Lori Tlach, who claimed the individual region title with a 6K time of 22:05.