On Saturday, Nov. 1, the Augustana men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the CCIW Championships hosted at Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island. In a highly competitive field, the Vikings raced with grit, earning a seventh-place finish on the men’s side and a fourth-place finish for the women.
Last week, the men placed 17th and the women placed 40th at the Augustana Invitational . The Vikings used that meet as both a learning experience and a confidence builder heading into the CCIW Championships. Despite the tough competition, the team showed signs of growth and depth, with several runners stepping up into key roles and the women’s squad continuing to build strong pack chemistry.
Head Coach Matthew Heinzman said he was encouraged by what he saw from both teams and believes those performances laid the foundation for success at conference championships.
“We’re having a lot of guys that are stepping up into leadership, top guy roles on the guys’ side,” Heinzman said. “We’ve been having a lot of guys stepping up where they’re not used to, but are willing to put themselves out there. On the ladies’ side, we just have a great pack, especially our middle crew. As long as we just keep doing what we’re doing, we’re going to be in a great spot.”
Last season, Augustana’s cross country teams took a huge step closer to winning the CCIW Championships, with the men earning a strong second-place finish and the women taking fifth. Those results set a high standard and gave both squads a clear understanding of what it would take to compete in the conference.
Throughout the offseason and regular season meets, junior Sammy Lehr has seen that the focus has been on teamwork, consistency and closing the gap between runners, a lesson carried directly from last season’s success.
“We definitely worked a lot in a pack last year, and so I think that’s been working really well this year,” Lehr said. “I know we’re all always looking to find teammates during a race and catch up to them, if you’re not already with them, and work together, because that tends to put us in the best placing position as well, because the more of us we have pushing towards the front, then it bodes well for points.”
Following a significant year in which the teams competed in nationals, this fall has been about more than just chasing times or placements. It’s been about rediscovering their team identity, with new faces stepping into leadership roles and returning runners adjusting to higher expectations.
The Vikings have worked to define what this year’s group stands for. Junior Payton Sand said the legacy of last year’s success has been both motivating and challenging, as the team aims to build its own version of excellence rather than live in the shadow of the past.
“A big thing that we’ve been doing a really good job on is being ourselves,” Sand said. “Last year, we were a national team, and you have that expectation going into the season now, because last year’s team was national-bound. I think now we’re pretty confident and we’re pretty optimistic about what we can do. We’ve got kind of a flow of things. We know what we can do, and I think we’re ready to finally translate that and show that. We’re not just a national team, but we can also show up when we need to.”
The teams hope to make a huge impact at the NCAA Midwest Regional Championships on Nov. 15 in Waverly, Iowa. Last season, the men placed fifth and the women finished eleventh at regionals, with strong performances that set a high bar for this year’s squads. Building off lessons learned from the conference meet, both teams are eager to carry their momentum forward and prove they can compete on the regional stage.
