Cross country teams struggle, finish strong at NWAACCs

Sophomore Christa Collmer (center), placed 14th at the NWAACC Championship meet.

The MHCC cross country team took advantage of some borrowed talent on Saturday at the NWAACC Championship meet where the women’s team finished 5th overall and the men’s team in 9th place.

The women’s team, struggling to fill out rosters this season, had to pull members of the basketball team to get a full squad in for the NWAACC meet after losing runner Katelyn Brashear, who head coach Matt Hart said was unable to compete.

“We picked up two women, and lost one.  Katie had some family issues come up and needed to focus on those, so she could not compete for us anymore,” said Hart.

“So, I went to the women’s basketball team and got Whitney Warren and Danica Lewis to run for us. Both of those ladies did very well, considering they had not run cross country and were practicing for basketball,” he said.

Nonetheless, the women’s team scored an impressive top-five finish, especially considering the two new members hadn’t practiced with the team all season.

MHCC’s Christa Collmer, the Southern Region Champion, was the highest placing runner among all Saints, both men and women, coming in at 14th place, 19:55. She was followed by freshmen runners Monica Amara in 20th, 21:02; Whitney Warren in 32nd, 22:20; Danica Lewis in 42nd, 23:53; and Prisma Flores in 49th, 25:33.

Everett Community College, the women’s meet winner, blew away the competition, placing its top five runners in the overall top 10, with star runner Marren Haneberg placing second overall.

The MHCC men’s team placed ninth overall, with the Spokane team winning the championship again this year.

Sophomore Brian Hoglund and Lt Avants (behind) running as a pack at the 2012 NWAACC Championships.

For the Saints, freshman Vlad Ishenin led the team once again in 39th place, 27:50, and was followed by his fellow freshmen Alex Seymour, 43rd (27:59) and Nathan Geiter, 48th (28:14) with lone sophomore Brian Hoglund placing 64th, at 28:33. Freshman Lt Avants finished it off for the men’s team, placing 70th, at 30:42.

In general, regardless of the difficulties with maintaining full race rosters, Hart felt it was a decent year for cross country.

“I am pleased that we had a good group of student-athletes competing for us this year,” he said.

Given the issues of recruitment, Hart hopes many young runners will compete again next year. “We assume the freshmen will do track & field for us, as well as return to compete in cross country next year,” he said. “My goal is to add quite a few additional teammates to the returners next year.”

With the NWAACC finals ending the season Hart listed some personal highs and lows for the team. “The best part was having a group of student-athletes that got along and did their best. The attitude of the athletes was positive and was enjoyable to be around and coach,” he said.

Hart also was appreciative of his coaching staff.

“I also want to thank Jim Satterfield for coming out and helping with the coaching responsibilities.  He went above and beyond and added a different dimension,” Hart said.

Advocate Staff