The UWS men’s and women’s cross country teams wrapped up their seasons on Nov. 12 at the NCAA Midwest Regional Meet in Rock Island, Illinois.

The women were able to place 30th out of 38 teams that competed at the meet. Leading the way for the women was sophomore Christina Micheletti, who finished 105th out of 264 competitors, with a time of 24:30.6. “I thought this year was all around great and a lot of fun. The team we had this year was mostly returners and we all get along really well,” commented Micheletti. “It felt good to be our top runner this year. I trained all summer and always worked my hardest at practice so it felt good to have all the hard work pay off during races and see my times get faster and faster. I always set a goal for my races and worked hard to reach every goal.”

The complete list of times and placing for the UWS women is as follows:

• Christina Micheletti – 24:30.6, 105th
  
• Kristen Jasperson – 24:59.3, 130th
  
• Samantha Anderson – 25:48.1, 163rd
  
• Danielle Anderson – 27:35.3, 209th
  
• Nicole Olson – 29:12.9, 238th
  
• Katie Huberty – 29:40, 243rd  
  

The women have three seniors, both Andersons and Alyssa Breu. Breu was unable to compete in the regional meet due to a sprained ankle. The women will return their top two finishers from this year (Micheletti and Jasperson) for next fall’s 2012 season. Micheletti said that her goal for next year is to get her time down to 24 minutes.       

On the men’s side of things, Scott Behling came across the line as the top Yellowjacket finisher, coming in with a time of 26:54, good enough for 96th place out of 277 runners.

The complete list of times and placing for the men is as follows:

• Scott Behling – 26:54, 96th
  
• Andy Kast – 28:33.6, 181st
  
• Josh Ensign – 28:38.8, 186th
  
• Nathan Larson – 30:07.2, 225th
  
• Sam Paakkonen – 30:29.6, 236th
  
• Dillon Beesley – 30:43.5, 241st
  
• Brandon Haling – 31:28.4, 250th
  

The men had a roster total of 13 this fall, none of whom are seniors, which means the Yellowjacket men’s cross country team will return everyone for the 2012 season.

“All but 5 individuals (men or women) had career PR’s [Personal Records] this year, so that’s what we’ll look to motivate us for next year,” commented Head Coach Glen Drexler on the overall success that both cross country teams had this year.