ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – After a big finish to her first season with the College of Saint Benedict cross country season, Tracy Renier is picking up right where she left off.
In the team’s first two races of the season, Renier has been the first Saint Benedict runner to cross the finish line. Friday evening at UW-River Falls, she finished in second place and nearly matched her career-best 6K time. For her performance, Renier is this week’s CSB Athlete of the Week.
After a top-10 finish to start her sophomore season on Aug. 30, Renier moved not only into the top five, but into the top two at the Falcon Invite. She took second in 23:58.1, which is just eight seconds shy of her personal-best 6K time, set last season at the NCAA Central Region Invite.
Renier finished 30 seconds out of first place, and more than 35 seconds ahead of the third-place finisher Friday. Her runner-up finish helped CSB finish first out of six teams. Renier was one of six CSB athletes in the top 10 at the race, which also featured Macalester, UW-Stout, UW-River Falls, Northwestern and UW-Superior.
Friday’s race marked the second time in Renier’s CSB cross country career that she broke 24 minutes in a 6K. The first came at last year’s region meet, where she finished in 23:50.2 – the 37
th-best time in program history.
Renier’s next shot at a new 6K PR is in two weeks when the team heads to South Bend, Ind., for the annual National Catholic Invite hosted by Notre Dame.
