Greenville University Cross Country is coming off a great showing at the Bradley Classic. Last Saturday, November 2nd, was the SLIAC Championship.
The SLIAC Conference consisted of:
- Greenville University
- Iowa Wesleyan
- Principia
- Spalding
- Webster
- Westminster (MO)
- MacMurray
- Fontbonne
- Blackburn
- Eureka
GU Cross Country had to run as well as they could against all of those talented teams that the SLIAC has. “They knew which teams to concern themselves with and they knew to run their race and not someone else’s,” said Coach Brian Patton. He explained what he important points to focus on during races. “There are three P’s of racing: Pace (most mistakes are made in the first 2 minutes of a race), patience (it is a long race), and pain management- it is going to hurt so you must be prepared mentally to go deep.”
For the Men’s Cross Country team, the seniors competed in their fourth straight SLIAC Championship as these seniors have won three SLIAC Championships. “I didn’t even know we were going for the 4th in a row to be perfectly honest” explains Patton.
“I mostly focus on the here and now,” states Patton. “Winning is always fun-whether 1 or 4. It would be a special thing for the seniors because that would mean they have never lost a SLIAC title.” After winning three straight men’s SLIAC Championships, GU had to show up and defend that title with everything they had.
Media by GU Athletes.
GU men’s Cross Country won their 16th SLIAC Championship and the seniors got their clean sweep in this challenging meet with very competitive teams. There were so many spotlights to put on the GU men’s Cross Country team, especially the SLIAC Runner of the Year, Dylan Goodyear. With the performance that Goodyear had, GU also had Dylon Niswonger place 3rd coming in only a second behind the 2nd place runner from Webster, Nathan Freyling. GU had three other runners that ran well, Collin Kessinger, Lucas Baird, and Noah Dir. With all their successful running this year, they were all awarded. Goodyear, Kessinger, and Niswonger were named SLIAC First Team All-Conference along with Baird and Dir earning Second Team. Niswonger was also selected to the SLIAC All-Sportsmanship Team.
Webster’s women’s Cross Country team was looking to defend their title that they won last year. GU women’s team was also hunting for that title, especially the only senior that they have on the team, Kori Nesbit. Webster and Greenville are rivals when it comes to Women’s Cross Country, but Patton had high praises for Webster’s program. “In order for us to defeat them, we needed to run a perfect race and they needed to make some serious racing errors. They were well-coached.”
GU Women’s Cross Country placed runner up to Webster and was led by sophomore Hannah Williams who placed 7th. Williams earned First Team All-Conference with her amazing season and performance at the Championship. GU also had four more runners who did great. Emma Leonhard placed 10th, Kori Nesbit placed 13th, Tori Dyson placed 15th, and Sabrina Favela placed 17th. Leonhard and Nesbit’s performances earned them Second Team All-Conference and Leonhard was also selected to the All-Sportsmanship Team.
To know what your GU Cross Country remaining schedule, go to Greenville Cross Country Website.
Media by Ryan Taylor.
