APPLETON, Wis. — Knox College cross country is on the rise.
The Prairie Fire men's team had its best finish in 13 years by claiming fifth place at the Midwest Conference Cross Country Championships, hosted by Lawrence University, while the women had their best showing in 24 years by placing seventh. Every Knox runner, man or woman, recorded a personal record in the process.
Leading the way was junior Lance Miller, who crossed the tape in the men's 8K race at Reid Municipal Golf Course in second place with a school-record time of 25:00.86, nearly a minute faster than he had ever run previously and well ahead of the previous record (25:28) set in 2000 by Paul Grinis. First-year Misha Ratner was the next Knox runner to complete the course, navigating it in 26:51.33 to claim 24th place, beating his best time by 46 seconds.
Other men scoring for Knox were sophomore Evan McClusky (27:56.34, 47th), junior Elliott Varnum (28:35.94, 63rd) and sophomore Max Lawrence (29:41.30, 78th).
The women were led by sophomore Cecilia Goodin in 22nd place with her time of 24:18.54, nearly 30 seconds faster than her previous best. Senior Franny Hilliard was the next Knox runner to cross the tape in 55th place in 26:13.29, shaving 27 seconds off her fastest time.
The other three Prairie Fire harriers were clustered together with first-year Mary Stockdale running the course in 28:14.41, junior Eileen Sheetz right on her heels in 28:15.21, and sophomore Alenis Rios in 28:54.86, only two places behind Sheetz.
- Cornell College beat out Lawrence University for the men's title, led by the individual champion, Isaac vanWestrienen in 24:15.81.
- Miller came as close as any Knox runner to winning the men's race since Roscoe Pullen won the event in 1932.
- On the women's side, Lawrence claimed the title and had the individual champion in Cristyn Oliver with her time of 21:55.83.
Next up for the teams is the NCAA Midwest Regional, hosted by Augustana in Rock Island, Illinois, in two weeks on Saturday, Nov. 16.
