HIGHLAND HEIGHTS, Ky. – The Milwaukee men's cross country team turned in a perfect 12-for-12 personal records at the 2019 Horizon League Championships on Saturday, Nov. 2, hosted by Northern Kentucky at the Valhalla Cross Country Course in Highland Heights, Ky.
The Panthers finished fourth in a tight race among the nine league teams with 78 points, which was just shy of third-place Youngstown State's 77 points and second-place Oakland's 72 points.
"First off, hats off to the IUPUI men and Oakland women for a really strong championship," head coach
Andrew Basler said, "they showed up, ran extremely well and were difficult to beat."
For the second year in a row,
Corey Thornton has earned First-Team All-League honors after taking charge in the leading pack to finish fourth overall. The junior turned in a 40-second personal record to cross the finish line in 24:23.7, breaking the 25-minute mark for the first time ever.
The sophomore squad of
Trevor Wenzel,
Spencer Currie,
Charlie Ellenbecker, and
Danny Browne had strong performances on the day after all four shattered their personal records.
Wenzel crossed the first mark in 35th place before taking off to cross the second mark in 19th, but his final push in the end put him in 13th-place overall, which in turn, earned him Second-Team All-League for the first time in his career. The sophomore improved his time by nearly a minute to finish with a time of 24:48.1.
Currie also turned on the jets, to finish 16th overall after a 54-second time drop (24:54.7). Additionally, the sophomore made the biggest leap this season after finishing in 56th-place in last year's meet to his top-20 finish this year.
Ellenbecker had the biggest time drop of the day after crossing the line a minute and 20-seconds faster than ever before (25:03.6) to claim 21st-place.
Browne also had a big time drop (47 seconds) to round out scoring on the day. The sophomore came in 24th-place with a time of 25:11.6.
Josh Freitag dropped 54 seconds to take 26th-place (25:15.3),
Alex Cotter turned in a 14-second PR to take 27th (25:16.9), and
Ian Nadolski dropped 24 seconds to finish 28th (25:21.3).
Next came
Michael Sippy in 47th-place (25:34.7) with a 53-second PR.
Aidan Sodemann (25:58.3),
Gus Kaiser (26:01.1), and
Blake Boles (26:01.7) rounded out the runners after finishing 47th, 49th, and 50th respectively. Sodemann grabbed a PR by nearly a minute while Kaiser turned in a 15-second PR and Boles turned in a PR by over a minute.
"We are extremely proud of how the teams competed today," Basler added, "a goal is always to get some hardware, so we are disappointed there, but we got our eyes set on regionals coming up and seeing if we can continue to build on and finish the season strong. Overall we had a really good season and the promise of the future is great."
ON TAP
The Milwaukee Panthers will race again at the Great Lakes Regional Championships held in Madison, Wis. at the Zimmer Championship Cross Country Course on Friday, Nov. 15. The top two teams from each regional will automatically advance to the 2019 NCAA Cross Country Championships.
MILWAUKEE FINISHERS
4.
Corey Thornton – 24:23.7
13.
Trevor Wenzel – 24:48.1
16.
Spencer Currie – 24:54.7
21.
Charlie Ellenbecker – 25:03.6
24.
Danny Browne – 25:11.6
(26)
Josh Freitag – 25:15.3
(27)
Alex Cotter – 25:16.9
28. Ian Nadolski – 25:21.3
35. Michael Sippy – 25:34.7
47. Aidan Sodemann – 25:58.3
49. Gus Kaiser – 26:01.1
50. Blake Boles – 26:01.7
TEAM SCORES
IUPUI – 53
Oakland – 72
Youngstown State – 77
Milwaukee – 78
Wright State – 142
UIC – 156
Detroit Mercy – 157
Northern Kentucky – 216
Green Bay – 262
