The men and women's cross-country teams, with many runners experiencing their first St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Championship, fared well as two freshmen women earned Second Team All-Conference honors. The championships were held at Principia College (IL) on October 31.
Freshmen Jane McKibben (Lindbergh HS, STL) and Jessica Parkman (Peru HS, IN) paced the women's team as it finished in fourth place. McKibben finished in 20 minutes and 55 seconds, good for 10th place and Second Team All-Conference honors. Parkman received Second Team All-Conference honors as well as she finished in 12th place at 21:07.
Senior Candace Barry (McCluer South HS, STL) finished in 22:01/19th place, while Francee VanGennip (SO, Woodland HS, MO) was at 23:40/35th and Jenny Venegoni (SR, Bishop DuBourg HS, STL) was at 25:54/47th. Fifty-four runners participated in the women's race.
Freshman Blake Harris (O'Fallon HS, IL) led the men at 22:20 in 17th place, as the team finished fifth. Rob Hohensee (FR, Buffalo HS, MO) at 22:58/20th, and David Koppelman (FR, Owensville HS, MO) at 23:12/21st, finished close behind. Junior Tony Morales (Parkway West HS, STL) at 25:57/47th and freshman Aaron Oberneufmann (Mt. Olive HS, IL) at 26:19/50th completed the scoring for Webster.
Junior Robert Aaron (Lindbergh HS, STL), running his first race of the season, finished at 27:56/54th. The men's field included a total of 63 runners.
The run was transformed to a "road race" after rain-soaked terrain forced its move from Greenville, IL, to the campus roads at Principia. In addition, the races were reduced from five to four miles for the men, and from four to three for the women.
Head coach Dusty Lopez noted, "The changes made to the location and course would have been enough to rattle even an experienced team, but we really adjusted well. I was especially happy to see our young runners handle their first conference championship so well."
"Jess (Parkman) and Jane (McKibben) ran smart, stayed together as they have all year, and met our goal of making the all-conference team. To have three of the men run personal bests and finish in the top 21 says we're headed in the right direction."