Cross Country News Releases
Rams are one of three regionally-ranked teams on men's side
MOUNT VERNON - Cornell College's men's cross country team looks to continue its stellar season at the Iowa Conference Championships, hosted by Wartburg Saturday at Max Cross Country Course in Waverly.
The eight-kilometer men's race is scheduled for 12 p.m. The women's 6K event starts at 11 a.m. The top 15 individual finishers in each race are named all-conference.
The Rams hope to contend for the men's team championship, carrying a No. 10 regional ranking into the meet. Three-time defending champion Luther is ranked fourth in the USTFCCCA Central Region Poll. Wartburg, which claimed eight consecutive IIAC titles from 1998-2005, is ranked ninth regionally.
Cornell won the team title at the Running of the Cows in its last competition Oct. 17 in Northfield, Minn. The Rams have stacked up favorably against IIAC foes this fall.
"We have made a huge improvement as a team since last year, and I am excited to see where that puts us in the conference," Cornell head coach Dan Schofer said. "We're not feeling pressure at this point, but we are looking at this meet as another chance to prove ourselves as a program. Based on our progress in training and earlier meets, we are ready for our best team race of the season."
The Cornell men are led by junior Andrew Tobben (Washington, Mo./St. Francis Borgia) and sophomore Chase Nowak (Colorado Springs, Colo./Cheyenne Mountain). Tobben is coming off a victory at Northfield and also owns a pair of runner-up finishes this season. Nowak has one meet title and three top-10 finishes.
Tobben earned all-conference accolades as a freshman, placing eighth in the 2007 meet. Nowak paced the Rams at last year's championships with a 31st-place showing in Storm Lake.
The Rams have finished seventh in the men's team standings each of the past four years. The program's highest IIAC finish was sixth in 2003.
The Cornell women took sixth at last year's conference meet, led by a fourth-place individual finish from Rachelle Hawkins, who graduated as a three-time all-conference performer. Junior Andrea Aerts (David City, Neb./East Butler) is the team's top returning placewinner from the 2008 meet, finishing 56th.
Junior Allie Jagielo (Almond, Wis./Tri-County) should be in the mix for all-conference honors. She leads a young Rams squad with three top-20 finishes this fall, including a fourth-place showing in her last race.
"We're ready for a great race on Saturday," Schofer said. "We have had strong individual performances throughout the fall, but we need to fire on all cylinders at the conference meet. With such a young team, we're definitely looking to gain some championship meet experience, but I also feel that we can surprise some people."
Wartburg, ranked 19th nationally, is the defending women's team champion. The conference team title has gone to Wartburg or Luther the past 18 years.
