The Loyola women’s cross country team placed four runners in the top five to win the Region XIII championship this past Saturday in Atlanta.
But head coach Al Seither pointed to criminal justice senior Becky Kramer, the team’s fifth runner, as the key to the team’s victory.
Kramer finished in 14th place with a personal best time of 22:16, which was an improvement of more than 1:30.
“I was really pleased with her effort,” Seither said. “I told her that this could be her last race as a senior, and now she gets to go to nationals.”
Seither said that the performance from Kramer was needed, because the team defeated Xavier University by a single point in the Gulf Coast Athletic Conference meet on Oct. 25. The team’s fifth runner, elementary education junior Jean Cassandra, was unable to run due to shin splints.
Kramer’s improvement helped Loyola distance itself from the pack in the meet to qualify for nationals, to be held in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 22.
Sociology junior Natalie Sargent finished in second place with a time of 20:42.
Loyola also had runners finish third, fourth and fifth: general studies sophomore Sara Miles St. Clair (20:54), psychology sophomore Kim Kujanek (21:05) and communications sophomore Natalie Miller (21:06), respectively.
Seither said that he hopes the team will build on this year’s success in the next few years.
“It takes a lot of hard work and dedication,” he said. “I am very pleased with our performance.
“It’s really something for us to build on in the future, and we know we can run even faster times. I thought the team was mentally and physically ready.”
For the men, history senior Mike Gulotta, who finished fourth with a time of 27:48, and general business freshmen Matt Cagigal, who came in fifth in 27:52, paced the ‘Pack to a third-place finish.
Both Gulotta and Cagigal qualified individually for the national meet, also Nov. 22.
History freshman Richard Bouckaert finished in tenth place with a time of 29:02, falling one spot short of qualifying for nationals.
Seither said that he wants to motivate Gulotta to set the school record of 26:06 in the final race of his college career. Gulotta’s personal best time is 26:32.
“He’s been somewhat on a downturn,” Seither said. “It’s probably a mental thing. But it’s his last race and the national championship. It would be good to walk away with the fastest time in school history. There’ll be a lot of other fast runners to keep him motivated as well.”
