Muller, Henderson return to nationals; Flames place 3rd
ASHLAND, Neb. – For the second consecutive season, Kara Muller and Carly Henderson of the College of Saint Mary are heading to the NAIA national cross country meet.
Muller placed 12th and Henderson finished 16th in the GPAC Cross Country Championships Saturday at chilly Mahoney State Park. That punched the sophomores' tickets to the national meet, set for Nov. 21 at Apalachee Regional Park in Tallahassee, Fla.
"I'm super excited that Kara and Carly get another race at the national meet,'' CSM Coach Derek Fey said. "Kara has turned it up a notch this fall and it has paid off. Carly was banged up at the beginning of the year and she has really finished the season strong.''
The Flames program also had aspirations of advancing to nationals as a team, but fell just short of that. CSM placed third in the 11-team chase, scoring 83 points, just behind runner-up Morningside University (76).
Dordt University won its sixth straight team title and 12th in 14 years with a team total of 17. The Defenders had eight of the top 10 finishers over the 6,000-meter course, including repeat champion Corinne Braun.
In cross country, you have no control over the other competitors. And the Flames turned in the best performance in program history, according to their coach.
"That was by far the best race we've ever had,'' Fey said. "We ran nearly a minute faster than two weeks ago on the same course. Our one through five pack time was under a minute faster. We ran out of our minds. Morningside just ran out of their minds as well.
"You can only control how well you run. We have absolutely nothing to be disappointed about with that performance. We couldn't have run a better race.''
Muller finished 12th in 22 minutes, 32 seconds to earn all-Great Plains Athletic Conference honors for the second straight year. Henderson was 16th in 22:56, just missing all-conference honors as the top 15 earn that accolade. She earns the trip to nationals as the sixth-fastest individual from a non-qualifying team.
The rest of the scorers for the Flames were senior Kiley Craft, 21st in 23:21, sophomore Josie Karnik, 23rd in 23:23, and junior Mira Fosmer, 24th in 23:30.
The other finishers for CSM were Corinne Mead, 31st in 24:10; Yenifer Juan Jesus, 32nd in 24:11; Sarah Dickas, 42nd in 24:39; Lily Ray, 65th in 25:37; and Becka Karnik, 66th in 25:49.
Fey said his team is absolutely deserving of running at nationals. His frustration lies with the qualification process.
"Our system of selecting teams for nationals needs some serious revision,'' he said. "We really have earned a trip to Florida, along with Morningside and Dordt. This group is a top 30 team.''
The program will say goodbye to seniors Craft, Mead and Emma Lee.
"I will miss our seniors,'' Fey said. "They are responsible for changing this program into a culture of competitiveness. We are forever in debt for all they have done for our program.''