Saturday was a beautiful snowy, cold afternoon.The kind of day when Jack Frost nips and the nose, and perfect weather for building snowman, throwing snowballs, ice-skating and, apparently, running the National Cross Country race. Whereas most normal humans would be wrapped up in several layers of clothing, the DII XC fans of Chico, Grand Valley, Western, UAH and Slippery Rock decided to go shirtless to cheer on their teammates, forgoing any worries about frostbite. This Championship race will surely be one talked about for years to come, especially if some of the fans loose a couple of fingers to frostbite.

The story unfolded in the men’s race with Chico State’s Scott Bauhs leading a small group through the mile mark in 4:55, including Adams State’s Aaron Braun, Harding’s Daniel Kirwa, California PA’s Chris Clark, and Queen’s Michael Crouch. By the time Bauhs and Braun had passed the four mile mark, they had gapped the field by about 25 seconds Halfway through the race, the team competition was heating up with the top five teams being, Adams, Abilene Christian, Western, Chico and Grand Valley.  Bauhs and Braun were neck and neck through the halfway point, followed by a chase pack of Crouch Western’s Iain Donnan, Harding’s Kirwa, Adams State’s Brian Medigovich, and Alaska Anchorage’s Mark Cheesto. Coming out of the woods, Bauhs had a commanding lead over Braun to take the victory in 30:23. Braun held onto second (30:36) and Crouch came in third (30:56). Chris Clark (31:12), Iain Donnan (31:14), and Brian Medigovich (31:24) rounded out the top five. In the team competition, it was Adams States took home top honors with 67 points, besting their rival Western (88).  The top five was rounded out by Chico (120), last year’s winner, Abilene Christian (128), and Grand Valley (190).  

Early in the race, before the first mile mark, a group of three women—including Seattle Pacific’s Jessica Pixler, Shippensburg’s Neely Spence, and Abilene Christian’s Winrose Karunde— broke away from the pack. By the first mile mark, gaps had opened up between these three runners, with Pixler leading the charge hitting the first mile mark in 5:44. About halfway thru the race, it Pixler was still leading Spence.  Karunde, however, had slipped from third to fifth, after being overtaken by Adams State’s Heather Wood and Colorado Spring’s Shannon Payne. Payne continued to close the gap between herself and Spence, which led to an exciting sprint finish with Spence taking it at the line. Pixler finished in the time of 20:59, claiming her second DII XC National Title. Spence finished in the time of 21:27, followed by Payne (21:29). Heather Wood (21:37) and Wisconsin Parkside’s Jessica Monson (21:38) rounded out the top five.  Adams State took their 6^th team title with 79 points. They were followed by Grand Valley (102), Western State (183), Seattle Pacific (194), and Augustana (203).

Congratulations to all participants and I will be back next week with indoor track action.

Interviews can be found here they include: Chris Clark, Jessica Pixler, Neely Spence and Scott Bauhs..and many more!