Contact: Jenna McElroy, Sports Info & Social Media Intern, mcelroy@midwestconference.org
Women's Preview
GRINNELL, Iowa – The 2018 Midwest Conference (MWC) Men’s Cross Country Championship could be a historic race as two-time defending individual champion Josh Janusiak of Lawrence University tries to become just the sixth three-time winner in conference history. Defending team champion Cornell College enters the race ranked No. 28 in the nation and going for its first back-to-back titles since winning three straight from 1946-48.
Lake Forest College is this year's host institution for the championship meet with the race being run at Foss Park in North Chicago, Illinois. The men’s race will start at 12 p.m. and a course map along with all meet information can be found on the
championship page.
Four schools took part in the Forester Invitational in mid-September to preview the championship course with Lawrence and 2017 Champion Janusiak taking the win. The Vikings finished fourth at last year’s race and return two-time All-MWC performer Joe Kortenhof along with Januisak. Kortenhof’s time of 26:11 currently ranks 8th in the conference which equals his placing from 2017. First-year Billy Daniels also has a top-thirty time with his season-best of 27:40.
Janusiak ran the fastest time this season of 25:03, however, that is only a second ahead of Grinnell College’s John Lennon and ten ahead Cornell’s Mason Wicker. The individual race looks to be a battle of experience as the top seven times are held by seniors and heading into their final MWC Championship meet will look to challenge for the top spot. The fight for a top-20 placing and All-Conference recognition should be tight as well as the spread between the 17th through 27th fastest times this season is just thirty seconds.
Four of the top seven times were recorded by a Ram runner as Cornell returns its entire top seven from last year’s championship team. Wicker, who finished third in 2017, leads the way with a time of 25:13 and is followed by a tight pack of three. All-MWC performers Austin Bach (25:44), Caleb Wilson (25:47), and Cuyler Gabriel (25:54) come in with season-best times that are just seven seconds apart as they look to make it back-to-back titles.
Fellow Iowa school Grinnell will look to regain the title after the Rams ended its streak of five in a row. The Pioneers, led by Lennon, have six runners in the conference’s honor roll top-20. Grinnell has some impressive pack running as the next five runners behind Lennon have a spread of just over 30 seconds with all times run at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational. Gray Streetman heads the pack with his 14th fastest time of 26:43 followed by sophomores Matt Lieberman (26:54) and Lucas Chamberland (27:01). The junior duo of Jackson Schulte (27:13) and John Osler (27:15) round out the group.
The Pioneers will be challenged by a Lake Forest team that finished just ten points behind them in the team standings last year. The Foresters are led by 2017 ninth-place finisher Jorge Villanueva who looks to move into the top five in 2018 as his time of 25:39.15 ranks 4th. Fellow All-MWC runner Philip Wilson also ranks in the top ten with a time of 26:25.17 while Christian Aldana looks to move into a top-20 All-Conference spot as his time of 26:41.10 ranks 13th.
Monmouth enters the championship led by two of the conference’s top-three first-years. Riley Dulin recorded the 15th best time in 26:51.2 while Cooper Hoffmann 27:20.1 is the 22nd fastest. They are followed close behind by brothers Tanner and Tate Heiple who posted season-best times of 27:20.2 and 27:31.8 respectively.
St. Norbert is also paced by young talent as its top-seven includes just one senior and four underclassmen. Sophomore Joe Gasick leads the Green Knights with his 12th ranked time of 26:32.9 followed by Peyton Janto’s second-best freshman time of 27:06.1. Fellow first-year Evan McVittie and junior Matt Holloway also boost top-25 times of 27:25.4 and 27:19.7 respectively.
Just one second ahead of Gasick in the MWC honor roll is two-time All-MWC performer Jarek Kish of Ripon. Kish and follow junior Andrew Johnson pace a trio of Red Hawk first-years in Miles Kremsreiter, Drew Klatt, and Garrett Radtke. All five runners rank in the conference top-50 with the first-years having a mere two-second spread with times between 28:07-28:09.
Similar to Ripon, Beloit enters Saturday’s championship race with two upperclassmen leading a group of sophomores. Senior Dan Arkes currently holds the 9th fastest time on the season (26:17) and goes for his third straight All-MWC finish. Junior Charles Sandberg looks to make a big jump from his 61st place finish in 2017 as his season-best time of 27:48 ranks 32nd.
Rounding out the field is Illinois College led by senior Dillan Sorrells and his season-best time of 28:54. Sorrells is followed by Justin Pollard and Grant Seniker who are a second apart with times of 29:18 and 29:19 respectively. Knox enters the race one of the youngest squads as Jonathon Rico is the Prairie Fire’s only senior. Rico comes in to Saturday’s race with a season-best time of 30:01.89 with only Isaac Hughes posting a faster time on the team with his 29:16.06.
MWC Men's Cross Country Championship
meet info.