The men’s and women’s cross-country teams traveled to Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa on Nov. 20 for the NCAA Division III championships with the intent of returning with a national championship trophy.
Their trip produced mixed results, however. Though four individual runners received All-American titles, the men finished seventh and the women finished 12th.
“It was one of those very successful yet unsuccessful [national] championships,” said head coach Mike Woods. “We had four All-Americans, which is the most we’ve ever come home with … that’s the best trip we’ve ever had in the 20 years that I’ve been doing it.”
Senior Ryan O’Connor, juniors Lee Berube and Eddie Novara and sophomore Marissa Liberati each earned the All-American honor, which turned out to be one of the lone highlights in a trip that saw the Knights bumped from the podium for the second straight year.
The finish was especially tough for the men, who entered the race ranked third in the Nov. 3 U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Division III coaches’ poll.
Led by the trio of Berube, O’Connor and Novara – who finished eighth, 10th and 27th respectively – the Knights put themselves in a good position to win. Senior Bill Juda also stepped up and put together what Woods called “the race of his life,” running a personal record time of 25 minutes, 20 seconds and finishing in 79th place.
Seniors Mark Streb and Lee Gabler couldn’t follow suit, however, finishing 192nd and 201st, respectively.
“I’m still baffled about how we finished seventh,” Woods said. “We had four guys just run lights out, but in cross-country you need the fifth and the fifth was not there.”
One thing is for sure; the Knights left nothing on the table, capping off a phenomenal season with a strong effort.
“There was a little disappointment there,” Berube said. “I feel like some of our guys that didn’t do so well were disappointed but looking at it you can never be disappointed with your performance if you give your all and I think everyone did run their all that day.”
In spite of their 12th place finish, the women’s squad also put together a great race; six of the seven runners finished with personal record times.
“Would I have liked to finish [better] than 12th? Yeah, but can I complain about that? No way, not when you have six out of seven [personal records] and one All-American,” said Woods.
The women’s team will remain mostly intact next season, losing only junior
Julie Dmochowski. The men, however, find themselves losing three key members: O’Connor, Juda and Gabler.
“They’re the pillars of our men’s program,” said Woods of his seniors. “They were instrumental in gaining us a national reputation and all three have immense respect in the Division III running circle.”
“They’ve represented Geneseo so well because not only are they great runners but they’re great sportsmen … that’s a hell of a loss for our program,” he said.
The Knights will proceed into next season with sky high potential.
“The expectations are always high for Geneseo cross-country and I don’t have to set those expectations; they set them themselves,” Woods said. “They know that we’re going to reach for the stars and they prepare themselves to do that and I expect nothing but excellence from them.”
“For the men we want to get on that podium in the worst way and we have the firepower to do it,” he added.
Berube and Novara will headline the team’s firepower next season as the duo now has only one more shot at that elusive national title.
“I’m never satisfied,” Berube said. “As a team we had a good showing by most of our guys, obviously not what we wanted to do, but overall I think the season showed an improvement on last year and I think that’s what we’re looking for and are excited about.”