Fighting Bee men and women make history at Nationals
KENOSHA, WI – Three top 10
all-time times highlighted St. Ambrose day at the NAIA Cross Country National
Championsships in Kenosha, Wisconsin.
In the women’s race,
Brooke Ashcraft (So., United Township) ran her best time of the year,
finishing in 19:45, which now ranks her as the seventh fastest Bee in school
history. Right behind Ashcraft were senior captain Katelynn Krahn (Sr.,
Mother McAuley) and junior Lauren Cleary (Jr., Naperville Central),
both of whom ran 19:47 and are now the 9th and 10th
fastest Bee women in the program’s history.
“The women worked together
and pushed each other into the history books,” SAU head coach Dan Zeimet said.
“Katelynn had been flirting with 20 minutes all year, so for her to smash
through that barrier in her last meet is really special. For Brooke and Lauren,
it’s something to build on for next year, and should be a nice stepping stone.”
In the men’s race, freshman
John Darmody (Fr., O’Dea) led the way, and etched his name into the
prestigious SAU XC record books running the 8K course in 26:23, which ranks 9th
all-time for Bee harriers. Darmody finished in 134th place, which
also is in the top 10 of all-time Fighting Bee finishes at nationals, ranking
eighth.
“John has been progressing
throughout his first year, and it was just a matter of time before he broke out
like he did today,” Zeimet said. “He’s already talking about hopes and goals for
the future, and with his work ethic nothing is impossible.”
Darmody led the Bees to a 30th
place finish, the teams second best team finish in history, ranking right behind
their 24th place finish in 2000.
Sophomore Austin Quinn ran
in the No. 2 position for the Bees, running a season-best time of 27:56. Running
third for SAU was junior Keith Randle who ran a lifetime best 28:53. Senior
captain Shane Shemek (Sr., Alleman) was the Bees No. 4 runner finishing
28:56, followed up by junior captain Doug Brusich (Jr., Dickinson)
finishing in 29:33. A pair of freshman rounded out the Bees squad with Jacob
Barker (Fr., Pleasant Valley) running 29:48 and Nick Villareal (Fr.,
Davenport North) running a lifetime best of 29:59 to end SAU’s day.
“I couldn’t be more proud of
these guys and how they ran,” Zeimet said. “They all stepped up and ran their
best race at the biggest meet and you can’t ask for anything more. It also gave
them a good idea of what it takes to go to the next level, and how much work
they’ll have to do to get there.”
This was the Fighting Bees
third team-finish at the NAIA National Championships. SAU placed 37th
in 1992 and 24th in 2000.
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