ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – Four members of the College of Saint Benedict cross country team finished inside the top 50 at the 2019 MIAC Championships in November, including Tracy Renier, who earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention thanks to a 23
rd-place finish.
While finishing top 50 is an impressive feat, it’s even more impressive considering where each of the four runners finished at the 2018 conference meet.
Renier’s top-25 finish paced the Bennies at the MIAC Championships, and marked a 93-place improvement for the sophomore, who took 116
th as a first year in 2018. Junior Althea Gutzmann also finished top-30 this season, coming in 29
th. As a sophomore last year, she finished 73
rd, marking a 44-spot improvement.
In her first season with the Bennie cross country team, Jo Merten finished 111
th at the 2018 MIAC Championships. As a junior in 2019, she moved up 70 spots and finished 41
st. Junior Jena Wachowiak rounded out the top 50 for CSB this season, finishing 44
th. She moved up 13 spots after finishing 57
th as a sophomore in 2018.
Not only did the foursome improve their MIAC finish place-wise in 2019, they also cut significant time off of their 2018 MIAC times – and all four recorded collegiate-best times. Renier shaved more than three minutes off of her time from her first conference race, finishing in 23:11.9. That time also marked an eight-second personal best, and the 18
th-best 6K time in CSB history. Merten took more than two minutes off of her 2018 conference meet time and finished the 2019 race in 23:58.8 – a personal-best time of more than 15 seconds, and the 41
st-best time in program history.
Gutzmann’s MIAC time of 23:30.0 was more than a minute faster than her 2018 MIAC time, and a nine-second personal-best. It also moved her into 28
th in program history. Wachowiak finished the conference race in 24:05.7, a 30-second personal best and the 45
th-best time in CSB history.
Saint Benedict’s four runners in the top 50 weren’t the only athletes to improve on their MIAC finishes from 2018. Five other Bennie runners moved up in the conference standings, including senior Aubrey Shepard, who moved up from 137
th to 105
th, and finished more than a minute and a half better than in 2018. Caroline Osborne, Claire Iversen, Kristiana Connelly and Sarah Carney also moved up in the standings and finished nearly a minute faster than in 2018.
