Women Runners Jog Home with Second-Place Finish at Nationals

Author: Kelsey Rinehart

On Nov. 23, it was a 40-degree Saturday morning in Northfield, Minn., when the women's cross-country team arrived at St. Olaf College for the NCAA Division III Cross-Country National Championship Meet. The sun was shining, the 6,000-meter course was fast and the top eight Panther runners were ready to race. They got to St. Olaf just in time to see the start of the men's race.
The crack of the gun set hundreds of feet in motion; a sea of runners stampeded down the first 200 meters, jostling each other through the first tight curve. The noise of the crowd -- four people deep on both sides of the course -- was deafening. As the women returned from their warm-up, they watched what looked like a road race of spectators wildly screaming and sprinting to see the finish.
After the gun went off, the female Panthers sped away. They popped over the little hills in the "roller coaster," whipped around the lake loop and sped up a hill into an open prarie nicknamed "Kansas." In the prairie, the women listened to each other's breathing and tried to gauge how much they and the women around them had left. They dashed out of "Kansas," flew through a tunnel of trees and climbed a hill, all the while drawing closer to the finish. After another quick trip into"Kansas," they dashed up a quick hill and sprinted for the finish line. Finally, it was all over. The Panthers made their way through the throng of runners, coaches and spectators, hugging and congratulating each other.
The top three Panthers ran in fine form and placed in the top 35 to make the All-American team. Jess Manzer led the Panthers, placing tenth in a blazing time of 22:01. Sarah Logan ran a tough race, coming in 14th in 22:14. She was followed by Molly Yazwinski, who topped off a great season with a 22:21, which put her in the 20th spot. Nora Segar, a first-year runner, ran an outstanding race as the Panthers' fourth runner, placing 50th in a time of 23:04. Right behind Segar was Marisa Cawley '05, who clocked 23:05 to place 51st. Rounding out the Panthers' top seven were captain Michela Adrian, who ran a tough race in 23:38 and placed 81st, and first-year Kelsey Rinehart, who ran hard to place 94th in a time of 23:47. The Panthers' average time was 22:33.7.
The Panthers finished with a score of 145 points, finishing a respectable second in the country to Williams, who won with 42 points.
"All of the bonding we've been doing throughout the season definitely payed off in that race. We knew that we were running for our individual goals, but there was a greater goal for all of us to meet as awhole" commented Cawley.