With 10 days until conference championships, the Augustana Interregional Invitational was the perfect stage for some of the strongest teams in the midwest to put on a show. Before competing in their respective conference meets, the athletes were able to size each other up one more time before meeting again at the regional, and hopefully, national meets. The weather was beautiful, the course was fast, and the performances did not disappoint.

This weekend’s results solidified that between the top ranked teams, it can be anyone’s day. Bold moves were made and many paid off. Moving into conference, regionals and nationals over the next month, it is clear that no team should be written off.

In the women’s race, Anastasia Tucker of Hope College took the lead from the gun, maintaining a substantial gap throughout the entire 6K race, and crossing the line in 21:21. Anastasia was the top D3 finisher in the Live in Lou Classic’s Gold race, which featured mostly D1 talent, so her dominant performance came as no surprise.

The chase pack had big team implications as it was made up of a mix of Univ. of Chicago, Pomona-Pitzer, Wartburg and WashU athletes. With Tucker on her own out front, the chase pack was tight until the final kilometer. When the women rounded the last turn, the field became more strung out as they poured everything they had left into the final straightaway. 

Second to Tucker was freshman Claudia Harnet, of Univ. of Chicago, followed by Sadie Heeringa from Calvin University, Genavieve Dibari of Pomona-Pitzer, and Kiera Olson of WashU to round out the top 5. Times in the top 20 were separated by as little as 1-3 seconds, making it difficult to predict team results on the spot.

As the initial results showed a wider victory for Pomona-Pitzer, Wartburg’s number 2 wasn’t counted in those results. After an update, the final score wasa close 68-75 win for Pomona-Pitzer over Wartburg. The addition of Wartburg’s #2 runner impacted the rest of the field and resulted in a tie between WashU and UChicago with 97 points. Despite losing their last tie breaker to Wartburg a few weeks ago, WashU comes away with the tie breaker win.

In the men’s race, three time All American, Joe Freiburger, of Wartburg used the same tactic as Tucker, taking the lead from the gun. Freiburger appeared completely in control and relaxed for the entirety of the race, knowing his teammates were in pursuit behind him. Joe quickly crossed the line in 24:16 with no challengers.

Much like the women’s race, the chase pack was full of Wartburg, Pomona-Pitzer, Univ. of Chicago and WashU men, but with additions of North Central and Otterbein. Following Freiburger in second was teammate Christopher Collet then Lucas Florsheim of Pomona-Pitzer and rounding out the top five was a strong duo from UChicago, Samuel Craig and Henry Myers.

After being consistently ranked at the top of the Great Lakes region, the Otterbein men proved their worth at the national level this weekend. The Cardinals were led by sophomore Cal Yackin and junior Bill Daily.

The men’s race also showcased great team tactics from Wartburg, Pomona-Pitzer and Univ. of Chicago, who ran in pairs towards the front. In the end, Wartburg took the team title with 39 points. Behind the Knights were the defending champs, Pomona-Pitzer, with 46 points. In an effort to live up to the hype, 2 points separated the teams in the rest of the top 5. North Central College rebounded after an off day at Pre Nats to edge both Otterbein and Wash U by 1 and 2 points. NCC finished with 120 points, Otterbein 121 points and WashU 122 points.

As the final preparations are being made for the conference championships, it’s hard not to let your mind wander back to Tom Sawyer Park in Louisville, KY. This weekend’s performances will allow the runners to begin to plan their race tactics and mentally prepare for the what’s to come at nationals.

Temperatures are dropping, but competition is heating up. Bring on championship season.