This past weekend, the men’s and women’s cross-country teams competed in the Midwest Regionals in Waverly, Iowa.
The men’s team placed 12th and the women’s team placed 13th. Both teams also had individuals qualify for the national meet.
Junior Joe Langridge and senior Emma Odle will be representing the cross-country program in Carlisle, PA. this upcoming weekend.
“Making nationals this year was a very relieving and rewarding experience,” Langridge said. “It’s tough to make it in the most competitive region in the country, the midwest, so being able to do so was very indicative of the fitness I was able to build up this season. It is very rewarding to see the amount of work, and more importantly, the amount of sacrifice I put into this season in order to make it to this level.”
Odle is also very grateful for the opportunity to qualify and is grateful for the support from her teammates.
“It feels like a dream come true to make it to nationals! It has been my main goal since the start of the season,” Odle said. “But I couldn’t have done it without the help and support of my teammates, my coach and my family. I wouldn’t be there without them.”
Prior to the regional meet, both teams were placed ninth in the region rankings, but the team was pushing to improve that ranking.
“The season has been very good,” Odle said. “We’ve done well in the past races. We’re number nine in the region currently but we are pushing each other more each day and continuing to prepare for nationals.”
The goal for competition at the regional meet was to simply focus on, the team had a focus on competing and leaving everything on the course.
“We want to race as best as we possibly can,” Head Coach Kyle Flores said. “We just have to make sure we give our best efforts always and I think they’ve definitely done that so far this year, but I’m trying to get any real outcome goals out of this race and focus on what we can control, so that’s my goal.”
Overall, the goal for both teams was to show everyone the potential the Vikings have and to showcase the amount of work that has been put into the season.
The Vikings hope this work and these accomplishments will excite the team for years.
“Augustana has a lot of potential,” Flores said. “There’s a lot of good athletes here already, and I think the type of student-athlete that the school provides could definitely be great cross country runners. Whether that’s this season or next, we have had many positive moments this season.”
This year the team has had a lot of improvement compared to last year as well as a lot of success which has shown over the past couple of races. Langridge has looked at this past season as a good step forward.
“This season has been a great stepping stone for the team as a whole,” Langridge said. “Following a lackluster season it was nice to get a large freshman class that really creates some nice depth. A lot of our athletes have shown great promise and growth which is exciting to see knowing that a majority of the team will be coming back next year.” Langridge said.
The national meet will be on Saturday, Nov. 18, and Langridge is excited to represent the Augie cross-country program.
“I’m extremely excited to represent my team this weekend and to hopefully finish my season on a good note,” Langridge said. ”I would not have been able to make it this far if it weren’t for my teammates so a majority of the credit goes to them for making it easier to put in the work and sacrifices.”