The College of Saint Benedict cross country team saw exciting things happening in 2014, and looks to see more of that same success in 2015.

The Blazers finished in the top four in seven of the eight meets they competed in, and recorded five top-three finishes, including a pair of wins. After defeating St. Kate’s in a dual meet to start the season, CSB finished first out of seven teams at the Luther Invite in its first invite of the year. Manon Gammon-Deering, Brooke Rasmussen, Jenna O’Donnell, Cathleen Gross and Bailey Drewes all finished in the top 10 for CSB.

After winning at Luther, CSB took third at the Colorado College Invite, fourth at the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invite and second at the St. Kate’s Invite. The Blazers’ best showing of the year came on Oct. 18 when they finished third out of 30 teams at the Tori Neubauer Invite, hosted by UW-La Crosse in La Crosse, Wis. All five of CSB’s top runners finished in the top 50, and the Blazers beat out St. Thomas by six points. Gammon-Deering ran the second-best 6K time – 22:17 – in school history to add to the Blazers’ big performance.

CSB’s big finish in La Crosse pushed the Blazers from 33^rd all the way to No. 22 in Division III, the team’s best ranking since taking 12^th at the NCAA Championships in 1997.

The Blazers finished fourth at the MIAC Championships on Nov. 1 in St. Paul, marking their fourth straight top-five finish at the conference meet. Gammon-Deering earned her second straight All-MIAC honor after finishing sixth. Rasmussen and O’Donnell earned All-MIAC Honorable Mention after finishing 20^th and 22^nd, respectively, at the conference meet. Drewes was named to the All-MIAC Sportsmanship Team. 

Gammon-Deering capped of her career with a 26^th place finish at the NCAA Central Regional meet in Pella, Iowa, to earn All-Region honors. The Blazers finished seventh overall. Gammon-Deering led the Blazers in every race she competed in in 2015. O’Donnell, Drewes, Rasmussen, Emma Weber and Sam Womeldorf all ran personal bests at the region meet.

Junior Kiley Green led CSB to a team victory at the annual Fall Finale as she won the race in 19:05 and was one of 16 Blazers in the top 20.

CSB earned USTFCCCA team academic honors for the ninth straight year after finishing the season with a 3.52 GPA. O’Donnell, Drewes and Gammon-Deering earned individual academic accolades. Gammon-Deering was named the team’s MVP, Drewes won the Coaches’ Award and Green and Dayna Johnson were named Most Improved. 

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