The College of Saint Benedict cross country team enjoyed another successful season in 2016 thanks to some veteran runners and some talented newcomers.

After starting the season with a win at the Crown Invite, CSB finished eighth out of 23 teams at the St. Olaf Invite. The team traveled to Oregon to take part in the Charles Bowles Invite where it finished 12^th out of 20 teams, including plenty of Division I and II talent, before finishing in the top 11 at the Tori Neubauer Invite.

For the sixth straight season, CSB finished in the top five at the MIAC Championships. Thanks to three top-15 finishes, the team finished fourth for the third straight season. Senior Allison Kosobud led the team with a 10^th-place finish, first year Taylor Loth took 13^th and senior Emma Weber finished 14^th. Loth was the first first-year runner to cross the finish line. All three runners earned All-MIAC accolades for their finishes.

Following the conference meet, the team’s top runners went to regionals where they finished eighth. Weber (18^th) and Kosobud (28^th) both finished in the top 30 to earn All-Region honors – a first for both runners.

Kosobud won team MVP honors at the end of the season, and Weber won the Coach’s Award. Kyle Porter and Rachel Nelson shared Most Improved honors. Senior Mattia Hendrickson was named to the All-MIAC Sportsmanship Team.

Over the course of the season, four runners jumped into or moved up in CSB’s top 5K and 6K performances. Kosobud finished her senior season with the seventh-best 5K and 6K times in CSB history, and Weber finished the year tied for 10^th on the school’s top-25 6K list. Loth, who was named CSB’s Rookie of the Year for 2016-17, moved into 21^st in school history in the 6K and 17^th in the 5K. Abby Borgmeier moved into 19^th in the 5K and senior Elise Reid improved her best time and moved into 48^th in CSB history in the 5K.

As well as being successful on the course, CSB was also successful in the classroom in 2016-17, and earned USTFCCCA Team All-Academic honors for the 21^st straight season with a 3.71 GPA – good for sixth in Division III. Kosobud, Loth and Weber all earned USTFCCCA All-Academic individual honors.