MIAC Men's Release | MIAC Women's Release | MIAC Men's Results | MIAC Women's Results
 
ST. PAUL, Minn. — After a pair of back-to-back honorable-mention showings at the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championships, Jovan Newsum (Glendale Heights, Ill.) was determined to make his final conference championships appearance his best yet.
 
It's safe to say he did just that—and then some.
 
Newsum not only surpassed his honorable-mention performances of the past two seasons, but also turned in the highest place finish in Cardinal history, clocking an eight-kilometer time of 26:08 to finish third overall.
 
And with Newsum leading the charge, the Cardinal men earned a seventh-place team finish—equaling the best finish in coach Ward Berndt's
 
Danielle Franke (Mounds View, Minn.), meanwhile, did not show any first-championship jitters, as the freshman toured the six-kilometer course in 24:45 to lead the Cardinal women to a 12^th place team finish.
 
"It was a great day overall," said Berndt. "Jovan ran an amazing race and I'm really happy for him—best performance at the conference championships ever. He had a plan coming in and ran it to perfection. For the guys to come through with a seventh-place team finish, that's really an accomplishment."
 
"We were a little banged up on the women's side, but everyone seemed to step up and put together their best races possible."
 
Austin O'Hare (Rushford, Minn.) and Brandon Krogman (Owatonna, Minn.) were the second and third Cardinals across the finish line for the Saint Mary's men, posting times of 27:18 and 27:29, respectively. Sherman Moga (Shoreview, Minn. / 28:31), Ben Borash (Bowlus, Minn. / 29:40), and Marlon Barrett-Dwyer (Chicago, Ill. / 33:22) rounded out the Cardinals' lineup.
 
Along with Franke's career-best 24:45, the Cardinal women also got a 25:07 from Erika Thiel () and a 26:11 from Molly Sweet (). Alicia Berkenes (Buffalo, Minn. / 27:18), Paige Schernecker (Manawa, Wis. / 27:26), Emily Ortiz (Albert Lea, Minn. / 27:47), and Maddie Bolig (St. Croix Falls, Wis. / 28:18) rounded out the Saint Mary's lineup.
 
St. Olaf received a tough test from Saint John's in the men's race, but in the end, the Oles–led by individual champion Joe Coffey–prevailed to complete the drive for five-straight conference titles. As the first finishers rolled in, the Johnnies looked like they might stop St. Olaf's MIAC streak at four with three of the first nine runners across the line. However, the Oles placed two in the top five, and then three more from 10-to-16 to finish with a total of 44 points to continue its dynasty with a fifth-straight MIAC Championship. 
 
Another impressive streak continued for St. Olaf—thanks to Coffey's outstanding performance—as he became the fifth straight Ole to win the MIAC individual title. Grant Wintheiser won three in a row from 2012-to-2014, Jake Campbell won the 2015 title, and now Coffey is the latest St. Olaf runner to finish first on the MIAC's biggest stage. He finished with a time of 25:56.9 to win by 10 seconds.
 
The St. Thomas women put four runners in the top 12 and all five who scored finished in the top 20, to give the Tommies its 16th overall MIAC women's cross country championship–the most in conference history–but just the first since 2008.
 
Augsburg's Taybri Irving became the first Auggie to win the women's individual title, using a huge kick to post a winning time of 22:32.
 
 
The Cardinals are now off until Nov. 12, when they head to Northfield, Minn., to compete in the NCAA Central Regional.