Johnnies finish runner-up at MIAC championships

St. John’s cross country had an impressive MIAC championship weekend. The Johnnies finished second overall out of 11 teams last Saturday. The top five runners from each team contribute points to the team’s overall score. The lower the score, the better the team places.

The Johnnies rounded out the meet with a final total of 59 points, trailing behind St. Olaf ’s 32-point finish. The team had an impressive four Johnnies finish in the top 15 of the meet, who earned All-MIAC honors. Seniors Lloyd Young and Dillon Diekmann finished in fourth and 11th, respectively, while juniors Carter Grove and Tommy Allen finished 13th and 14th. Senior Alexei Hensel rounded out the point-scoring Johnnies with a finish in 17th.

“The MIAC Championship was a really solid day, and I believe the team raced strongly across the board,” senior Riley Berg said.

The team had hopes of upsetting St. Olaf for the conference title. However, this is the best finish for Johnnie cross country since 2007, according to head coach Tim Miles.

“We knew everything would have to go pretty much perfectly, and unfortunately that didn’t happen. But our scoring members felt as though we ran as good as we could have, and that’s kind of all you can hope for,” Allen said.

Some runners think they can perform even better.

“Collectively, we all had a solid performance.However, we weren’t completely satisfied and are looking at another shot to perform well at the region meet,” Young said.

The Johnnies’ season doesn’t stop at MIACs. The team will travel to Northfield in two weeks to compete against St. Olaf and the rest of the region at the NCAA DIII North Region championships, where they hope to get a bid to the NCAA DIII championships. The Johnnies will take their top seven competitors to the regional meet.

“Our top seven competitors are going to be spending the next couple of weeks adding the finishing touches to their training before they compete at the regional meet, and they are certainly hungry to earn a bid into the national championship race,” Berg said.

Young echoed Berg’s thoughts.

“I think everybody has unfinished business and is looking forward to putting down another solid effort or two this season,” he said.

While those seven Johnnies will be preparing for the regional race, the rest of the team will be preparing for their final race of the season, called Fall Finale. Hosted by SJU, Fall Finale offers competitors not competing in divisional competition a chance to showcase their hard work over the course of the season. The meet is well-liked by many teams in the region, and many racers look forward to competing for a final time in the season.

“This will be an opportunity for us to have one last chance to showcase our fitness before the season closes and we transition to a track and field mindset,” Berg said.

The Fall Finale will take place Friday, Nov. 5, at 5 p.m. The top seven Johnnies will race in the regional competition on Saturday, Nov. 12, at 12 p.m. hosted by St. Olaf. The team will continue to train together until national competition is completed.They will have a break before the track and field season begins.

“After the season is over, I’m sure we will enjoy laying low for a couple weeks, having some fun and regrouping for track,” Young said.

Until then, the Johnnies will continue to push themselves and work hard to finish the season off strong while pursuing that national bid.

“It’s an exciting time of the year because we’re fit,” Berg said. “We know we’ve put in the work, and we just get to go out and show it.”