Cross Country 2014

We are getting closer to the start of the 2014 Cross Country Season.  Augustana returns a strong core of runners who have national meet experience.  The men finished 3rd and the women 5th at the 2013 National Championships.  Where can the Vikings finish this year?????

Men of Augustana win DMR national title

This past weekend the men of  Augustana won the first relay title in the history of the program. The team of Travis Beniak (sr), Khor Kong (fr), Henrik Hansson (so), and Tom Karbo (jr) clocked a 9:49.06 to take the national title on the first day of competition at the national track meet in Mankato, MN. Not only did the men manage to break their school record set earlier this year but they also managed to break the all-time South Dakota state collegiate record held previously by the University of South Dakota.
The championship in the DMR brings the total of national champions in the past 365 days to five for Augustana. (Omot 800i, Omot 800o, Falch 1500o, Women's CC, Men's DMRi) Enjoy the video of the men's race.



To view complete coverage of the first day of competition click here.

The women of Augustana set the tone by breaking their school record and state record in the DMR in the finals at the national meet. The team was made up of Kyle Blakeslee (jr), Colleen Everson (so), Kayla Mescher (fr) and Runa Falch (jr). Their time was good enough to finish fifth. I will post video of the women's DMR as soon I can get it uploaded.

NSIC Championships

This past weekend, both the men and the women of Augustana finished second at a very competitive NSIC conference championship. I'm putting together some highlights from the meet. As I finish them I'll post them here on the blog. Feel free to continue to check back for new updates!

Jim Vahrenkamp

Men's 800m Final


Highlights from the NSIC Championships


Men's 60H Final

Freshman, Henrik Holmberk and Skyler Kuil compete in the 400m Finals

Travis Beniak, Tom Karbo and Henrik Hanson compete in the men's Mile Finals

Women Break School Record in 4x400m at Nebraska

This past weekend the women broke the school record in the 4x400m relay at the Nebraska Tune up. Below is the video of the race. Members of the relay in order were Kayla Mescher, Colleen Everson, Karmen Nyberg and Anne Parsley.

First Annual EggNog Challenge

Shane Mccallum, a freshman distance runner, put together the first annual eggnog challenge at Augustana College before holiday break.   He got the idea from BYU who posted a video of their eggnog challenge on flotrack.com.    The basic idea is to chug a glass of eggnog, run a lap, chug eggnog, and repeat until the last person pukes.   The last person that pukes is deemed the winner!  Casey Diggs is the first annual winner and we are all very proud!   Pretty interesting idea and it was all captured on the video below.   

Video

Cross Country Banquet

  Before holiday break the Augustana cross country teams had their annual banquet.   Athletes, coaches, and families shared a great meal and looked back on the historic xc season.    Coach Parno and Coach Maloney, put together a few videos that you can view below.   We thank both Kelly Kougl and Halvard Lange our only two seniors and we wish them the best moving forward in their lives!

Some highlights of nationals!



Picture compilation from 2011 xc season

Coach Parno Gets Press On Letsrun.com for his picks!

Check out the paragraph on letsrun.com!

Boom!

Coach Parno Picks Augie To Win Nationals Beforehand, Wins National letsrun.com Poll!

Hey!

     Letsrun.com came out with a poll prior to nationals.   The goal was to put in order the predicted finishes of the top ten men's and women's team.   The poll was then scored after the race and the results were published.  Coach Parno was the only person in the nation to pick the Augie Women as national champions prior to the race and his combined score brought him out on top!

He wins a letsrun.com t shirt which is cool, but winning the national championship was also very cool!

Nationals Videos! Historic Weekend For Augustana Cross Country!

Athlete Interviews and Race Footage 



 Bloopers and Fun






 

Famous Professional Runners Tweeting About Our National Championship!

After the win, coach Parno tweeted the news to a bunch of professional runners for a shout out.  We got some great responses back! Check out the tweets!

Notes From Tracy Hellman On The National Championship!

Augustana Cross Country = NATIONAL CHAMPIONS!!!   That has a great sound behind it, huh?  I believe my grad assistant coach sent out a quick email on Saturday, but I wanted to send an email myself and share the great news.  I apologize for the delay in getting the info out......it has been a crazy busy last few days.

Going into this season, I had high expectations for both teams.  I thought we could place both men and women in the top 5-6 and on a great day, place even higher.  Never in my mind did I think we could WIN THE NATIONALS!!!  What an unbelievable feeling this is for the kids, the program and the school.

I knew the ladies had run a great race, but I didn't think we had won.  I was walking back to the team 5-10 min after the finish, and I bumped into a fellow coach from U of Southern Indiana.  He gave me his phone and told me to talk to the person on the other line.  I'm not sure who it was, but the voice on the other line relayed the info to me that we had just won the National Championships!  What a surreal and emotional feeling I was having.....I couldn't believe it!  I ran back to tell the ladies and they went crazy with excitement and joy.  There was tears, celebration, and pride.......we couldn't believe what had just happened.

The top 5 scoring runners for the Augie ladies were in the top 30, with all 5 receiving All-American.  Our time spread from 1-5 was 28 seconds, the best spread among all the teams.  The victory was truly a "team effort".  We ended up winning by 4 points over Western State, the #1 team in the nation.  The 4 point victory was the 2nd closest finish in the history of Division 2 cross country.

Not to get lost in the excitement about our ladies, is the fact that our men had a truly outstanding day.  They placed 6th overall....equaling the best finish in school history!  (Last year, the men's team also placed 6th)  They guys have shown great improvement in the past few years with placing 10th, 6th, and 6th the past 3 years at the National.  We had 2 All-Americans in the men with Paul Yak placing 11th and Ryan Evans 32nd.  We red shirted our best runner this year (Travis Beniak) in hopes that we can make a run at the National Title in the men next year.  With our top 6 men returning, plus Travis......the future looks promising!  We also red shirted some key freshmen this year, so the hope is to continue placing higher at Nationals with hopes of winning a men's title to go along with the women's!  With the rate of improvement in our men......I wouldn't put it past them!

This past Saturday, in Spokane Washington........it truly was a GREAT DAY TO BE A VIKING!  We are glad you are interested in our program, and we would be excited for you to join the momentum and join our program!  

Best Regards,

Coach Tracy Hellman

New XC Rankings!

NEW ORLEANS – The Augustana women are ranked No. 5 and the men No. 7 in the latest national poll released Wednesday by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association.

The women fell one spot, while the men kept their position from last week.

Last week at the Central Region Championship in Denver, Colo., the Viking women placed third, and the men took fourth.  The effort qualified both squads for nationals.

The NCAA Championship is slated for Nov. 19 in Spokane, Wash


Link to Rankings!

Hal Falls

This is part of an inside joke but enjoy! Hal has a great sense of humor and got up and finished well in the race. He is ready for regionals and then nationals!

National XC Rankings

The Augustana Vikings women are ranked 4th and men 7th nationally going into the regional competition this week.   New rankings will be out this week! Click on the links below to check it out!

Regional Rankings

National Rankings 

This past year on flotrack

Here are some video's from this past year covering some of our athletes. Enjoy!


Watch more videos on Flotrack



Watch more videos on Flotrack



Watch more videos on Flotrack



Watch more videos on Flotrack



Watch more videos on Flotrack

XC Conference Championship Races 2011

 Men's XC Conference Championship Race



Women's XC Conference Championship Race

Weeeeeeeeeeee Are The Champions!!!

    Exciting news for the Augustana XC programs this past weekend.   Both men and women came out of the conference meets with the titles.   The XC gods were good to us with a beautiful sunny warm day in October which made the race that much better.  
     The women were first up and it proved to be a good race.   University of Mary was ranked closely behind us at both the national and conference level.    Our girls needed a good effort, and they all performed well.    Runa Falch's winning effort was more than eight seconds better than the runner-up performance by teammate Kyle Blakeslee.  Falch navigated the 6,000-meter course in 20:38.30, while Blakeslee came in at 20:46.40.  After the first two going number one and two in the race, Augie kept pouring it on with Leah Hansen placing fourth in a time of 20:54.60, Kelly Kougl finishing seventh in 21:26.50, and Kristin Brondbo collected eighth-place honors (21:30.20).   The Vikings were able to place 7 in the top 20 runners with Annie Pfeifle (22:05.20) placing 14th, and Miriam Hovda (22:19.30) 18th.  The women finished 13 points ahead of second place Mary.  This rivalry will continue through the Regional and National competition.
    Next up was the mens race.   With the debut of Tom Karbo joining the already strong men's team, it proved to be a fun race to watch.   Four of Augustana's men finished in the top-five. Yak beat teammate and second-place finisher Ryan Evans by more than 17 seconds, cruising through the 8,000-meter course in 24:28.80.  Evans finished in 24:46:00.   Karbo, who won the race last year, placed third (24:51.40), and Adam Braun (24:56.60) checked in at fifth.  Augie rounded out the top 20 with Jordan Slusser (25:27.30) placing 13th and Halvard Lange (25:31.90) at15th (All-NSIC second team).  The men's team finished 28 points ahead of second place Mankato.   The men's team will be fun to watch going into regionals and nationals.  
     Coach Tracy Hellman continues his dominant streak with now 5 women's championhips in a row, and 3 in the row for the men.   Hellman picked up coach of the year accolades for both men and women and is running out of space for awards in his office!
     The Vikings head to Denver, CO for the regional XC race on the 5-6th of Nov, and upon qualifying will head to Spokane, WA for the national meet on the 19-20th of Nov.

Exciting Times Ahead!

     Since this weekend is Vikings Days the cross country teams are off.   Last weekend we competed down at Briar Cliff and swept both titles!   It was a very flat course and some fast times were put down.   Travis Beniak (unattached) was crowned champion for the men while Kristin Brondbo was the top finisher for the Viking women.   The regular season for the cross country season this year has been relatively quiet with many of our top runners sitting out.   Its championship season now, and Augie is going to bring out all the stops!
     We have the conference meet next weekend Oct. 21-23 in Moorhead, MN.   Both men and women are defending champions and will be tough to beat again this year!   Stay tuned for results!

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Looking back....

Just a look at some past 600's run in the past few years.....

Men











Women

Men and Women 2nd Place at Griak Invitational

    The Augustana College Cross Country programs had a great weekend at the Roy Griak Invitational.   Last year the women pulled in a 5th place, while the men came out of the meet as champions.    There was a lot of excitement headed into this weekend and both teams came out with 2nd place finishes.   The weather was beautiful at the University of Minnesota golf course as the women took the course.
     On the shoulders of Kyle Blakeslee and Leah Hansen the women ran strong and finished second to the University of Mary by 2 points.   With key runners like Runa Falch, Kristin Brondbo, and Ingeborg Lind not present, this second place finish really displayed the depth of the women's team!  Check out the results below to see times and places.
     With Travis Beniak running unattached, and Tom Karbo resting this week, the men were missing some key runners, but still ran strong.   Paul Yak and Ryan Evans ran well as usual while new frehsman TJ Gleason and Adam Braun stepped up and got the job done to help the mens team finished behind only Central Missouri.
     Its hard to see the true potential of the Augustana teams on both sides with Coach Hellman still resting some of our best runners, but there is a lot of excitement around how we have ran so far moving forward!   Stay tuned for more exciting cross country news! 


Women's Results

Men's Results