ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. – For the first time since 2006, the St. Scholastica men’s cross country team has won the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) cross country championship, winning today’s meet by seven points.
The UMAC Championship meet was hosted by Crown College and wet, muddy conditions made for a slow course.
The Saints scored 68 points to win the title. Coming in a close second was Martin Luther College with 75 points. In third was the University of Minnesota-Morris with 78 points. North Central University was fourth with 89 points and Northwestern College was fifth with 120 points.
CSS was led by
Nick Mangan (
Jr.-Baxter, Minn./Brainerd), who finished fourth overall with a time of 27:58 seconds. Coming in sixth place was
Pat Bigaouette (
So.-Chaska, Minn.) with a time of 28:00.
Tony Bye (
So.-Chippewa Falls, Wis./McDonell) came in ninth with a time of 28:05. Mangan, Bigaouette, and Bye all earn all-conference honors for finishing in the top 12 overall.
Finishing fourth for CSS was
John Hunn (
Fr.-Duluth, Minn./East), who ran a personal-best time of 29:38 seconds to place 17th overall. Rounding out the top five was
Jimmy Linn (
So.-Anoka, Minn.) with a time of 30:47 seconds to finish 32nd overall.
This is the second conference championship in program history. For his efforts, head coach Steve Pfingsten was named the conference’s coach of the year.
The Saints will take part in the NCAA Division III Central Regional, hosted by Grinnell College (Iowa), on Saturday, November 14th. The team will bring its top seven runners to the regional. The race is scheduled to begin at 11 a.m.