St. Ben’s cross country enters second half of ’24 season

The St. Ben’s cross country team has entered the year with aspirations to emulate the 2023 season, which saw the Bennies place sixth at the North Region Championships.

Last spring, the team graduated four of its top performers from the prior season, including national championship qualifiers Fiona Smith and Annie Kiolbasa. At the NCAA Division III championship meet last November, Smith captured the school’s first cross country national title while Kiolbasa crossed the line in 144th place. Other notable departures from the team include seniors Keiley Maahs, Bridget Tetmeyer, and Erin Martin, who placed 23rd, 38th, and 76th respectively at the conference championship meet last year.

According to graduate student-athlete Lucy Lyngen, the absence of these athletes was felt at the beginning of the year, but the team is working to move forward with their new identity.

“It’s harder without the seniors last year, missing the personalities, as well as how good of runners they were,” Lyngen said. “But each year is different. We have really great freshman… we can all go together and work as a team.”

Despite the departures of these athletes, the team continues to focus on the present and prepare for the future. A large first-year class is headlined by the performances of Eileen O’Connor, who currently holds the third-fastest 6k time on the team.

“I feel like it kind of surprised everyone a little bit,” junior Mary Kenney said. “It was like, wow, this is some good talent we have here, and she’s been really fun to work with.”

The ten first-year athletes, the most of any grade level on the team, bolster a group of returners, including four top 50 finishers at the MIAC conference championship meet last year.

“Our returners came back and ran many all-time bests at our first meet. Many popped into our top 50 in CSB history for the 5k,” head coach Robin Balder-Lanoue said via email.

Additionally, Kenney and Lyngen hold the top two 6k times on the team, with senior Kalli Smith rounding out the top four of season performances.

Smith and Emily Tess, both seniors and captains of the team, have been praised for their leadership and credited as motivators for the team.

“[Tess] is a really positive, fun spirit, someone you can always really rely on and depend on to be there for other athletes,” Lyngen said. “[Smith] is doing a great job… stepping into this role, you know, being a leader this year.”

The onus of leadership has not fallen solely on the shoulders of the upperclassmen. Kenney reflected on a time she witnessed one of the sophomore athletes cleaning up garbage on the bus, exemplifying the values of the team.

After a second place showing at their home meet, the Toni St. Pierre Invitational, the Bennies have followed up with a pair of eighth place finishes at meets hosted by St. Olaf and the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire respectively. This relatively slow start to the season has done nothing to temper the emotions of the team.

“I feel like our first meet wasn’t our best performance, but last meet a lot of people were a lot happier… In the race sort of sense, I think we’re just starting to get things put together,” Kenney said.

One of the main reasons for the team’s consistent improvement over the course of the season has been their long-time head coach.

“She has a lot on her plate, and she does a lot, and she’s like super jolly, always in a good mood, helping us, whatever we need,” Lyngen said.

Kenney backed up Lyngen’s statement. “She’s very personable, and a very good motivator too,” Kenney said.

Having been a coach at CSB for the last 27 years, Balder-Lanoue has led many successful teams and knows that this squad is no different from those in the past. She expects that more of her athletes will make the jump into the top 50 record book in the coming weeks.

The team has one meet remaining before the conference championship meet: a 6k hosted by Augustana University. Both Lyngen and Kenney commented on the Augustana meet and how the chance to race against high quality competition will be a good test for the team before the conference championship meet.

“The runners know we have something special here, and we can’t wait to see the season unfold,” Balder-Lanoue said.