Sports
Men’s cross country gets at-large bid, moves on to NCAA playoff tournament
The Pointer
bhaig870@uwsp.edu
You may have seen some of the men’s cross country team around campus and may even have a member in a class, but they all share two characteristics. They are the first team to capture a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference title since 1997, and they sport full mustaches reminiscent of University of Oregon runner Steve Prefontaine.
“They’re not really ‘Pre’ mustaches, but we’ve grown beards every year before this so we decided to go with mustaches this year, “ said senior Dominick Meyer, a top runner for the Pointers.
The UW-Stevens Point men’s cross country team has been selected for an at-large berth to the NCAA Division III National Championships, set for Saturday, Nov. 22 at the L.S. Ayres Complex in Hanover, Ind. The Pointers finished third at the 2008 Division III Midwest Regional hosted by Augastana College at Saukie Golf Course in Ill.
The Pointer men’s team will compete for the team and individual titles in the men’s 8,000 meter race, looking to improve upon last season’s sixth place finish in the 32-team field. Sixteen teams receive automatic bids to the championship and the remaining teams are selected from a list of teams that finished higher than fifth.
The Pointers have been ranked as high as number three by the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association, but that isn’t where they see themselves this weekend.
“We’re shooting at the National Championship Title...we were just qualifying this weekend at Regionals,” said Meyer.
Point will have to contend with first ranked Cortland State who received all eight first-place votes in the poll, second-ranked North Central Ill. and fourth-ranked Calvin College.
“A major loss for us was Brandon Stremkowski, who broke his leg in the Eau Claire game,” said Miech. “He’s been there for a week and a half and he’s coming back tomorrow. Other than that, two of our running backs had knee injuries but we’ve been good.”
Keith Turner, assistant coach and offensive coordinator, believes that this team has all the ingredients for being a successful playoff team. Turner thinks that if the team plays as well as they did in the regular season they will definitely be contenders in the post-season.
“These students have been working hard and we haven’t had a lot of injuries this year,” said Turner, who, as well as Miech, has an impressive coaching record. “The team does really well learning, that’s how we’ve improved from week to week. The students are willing to take coaching and follow what we are doing.”
The team knows that in order to flourish in the play-offs, they need to stick together and act as a family. Schiedermayer and Beckwith both agree that this team is a family and it’s quite evident watching the team practice, with positive comments being thrown all over the field.
“Usually teams say they’re families, but they’re just saying that. We actually are. We’re definitely a real close group of guys and it’s awesome,” said Schiedermayer.
Transfer students generally come into a new school knowing very few, if anyone at all, and this can be stressful on them. As a transfer student, Beckwith was luckier than most. He feels like part of the team even though he has attended UW-SP for less than one semester.
“I’ve been part of a couple teams; after transferring here people get along with each other,” said Beckwith. “I look forward to coming out and hanging out with these guys every day. I love the team, things are going well, and you can’t beat a playoff atmosphere.”
Days are getting shorter and much colder, but football is a game played under almost any condition. With the newly renovated field, there won’t be four inches of mud, which was the case in years past.
Coach Miech believes that this will level the playing field for both teams, making it as fair a fight as any. He believes that the cold will not be a factor though.
Coach Turner can see the potential in the Pointers and notes that if they continue to stay consistent throughout the entire 60-minute game, he expects to have a lot of success.
“Every team in the playoffs is good; either you are conference champs or you have one loss or just lost to the conference champion,” said Miech. “It’s win or go home. We’re pretty confident we are going to represent ourselves well and if we don’t move on it’s because a better team beat us.”
