Johnnies travel to Oregon to face Division I competititon

Last weekend, St. John’s competed in the Lewis & Clark Invitational meet at Milo McIver State Park in Estacada, Oregon. Facing fierce competition, in a competition of 26 teams the Johnnies finished seventh.

In the 8k race, Portland won with 15 points, with NAIA Southern Oregon (78), Carleton (94), Loras (100), Pacific Lutheran (160) and Seattle University (204) following behind. St. John’s received 217 points.

While they didn’t place first, the cross country team certainly held their own. Andy Goldsmith, senior, was the first Johnnie to cross the finish line.

He finished 45th out of over 300 competitors, with a score of 28 points.

“As a team, we all raced great”, Goldsmith said. “For the most part, everyone on the team was thrilled with our results both as individuals and as a team. I think the excitement of being in a new state and racing with a couple of D1 schools helped bring out the best in us that day and it showed in the finishing times.”

Goldsmith attributes much of the team’s increasingly good performance to the actions of Cross Country coach Timothy Miles.

“Just comparing last weekend to our first four mile race in August, we have seen so much improvement. Though that is by design of Coach Miles’ training philosophy. We start out by grinding out milage during the summer months so that when we arrive on campus we have built a solid base. Then we begin tuning our gears through structured workouts that help elevate our fitness to the next level. Right now, we are bringing our milage down and focusing on finding those last gears and making sure we are healthy for championship races.” Goldsmith said. He also feels great about his performance during the race.

“I think this was the best I have felt during a race all season” Goldsmith said. He contributed his success to lower mileage, fast workouts and the deep focus on recovery.

“I feel very fit right now and know that this fitness will carry on into the next two races to hopefully let my season end strong.” he said.

Goldsmith was not the only Johnnie to achieve success this weekend. Mitchell Grand completed the 8K run in 25:32.

This is the first time he completed an 8k race in under 26 minutes.

“Mitch [Grand] is a hard worker and an overall great guy”, Goldsmith said. “I was thrilled to see him break that barrier. Just seeing his face filled with excitement as he crossed was amazing.”

Miles was satisfied with the team’s performance.

“The team competed well and ran smart races, moving up throughout the race”, he said. “Competition was stellar with good Division I and Division II teams and a couple of the top Division III teams from the West Region.”

There were some new successes as well. Sophomore Alexi Hensel finished 77th overall, and fourth among the Johnnies.

Miles described his run as “markedly his best cross country race ever.”

While doing well in Oregon, the team has no plans on stopping there.

“There is no doubt we have come a long way over the past eight weeks. We are getting close to firing on all our cylinders. With a little bit of recovery and great competition in championship atmospheres, exciting things can happen in the weeks ahead.” Miles said.

Their next big event will be the conference meet on Oct. 30.

“The MIAC this year is very competitive, and we will need to be at our best that day to do some damage. Our training is now focusing on final fast workouts and recovery, as most of the milage and gears are there by this point, so now it is time to be patient and wait for meet day to show all the work we put in this summer and fall,” Goldsmith said.

After that, they will have a last chance meet for most of the team on the Nov. 5, and a final race of the top seven in Colfax, Wisconsin, on Nov. 13.