 "Photo: Loyola Athletic Department/Steve Woltmann")
Loyola’s cross country teams proved this weekend that men and women may not be so different after all. Both squads finished second overall at their respective Horizon League Championship races on Halloween in Detroit, Mich.
The men were led by strong performances by standouts sophomore Josh Stein and junior Ben Reifenberg, who finished seventh and eigth. Stein’s impressive time of 25:53 was good enough for a place on the First Team All-Horizon League team.
“It was a great honor to make the all-conference team,” said Stein. “Next year I hope to see more maroon and gold up there with me.”
Though Loyola lost handily to the Butler Bulldogs, who had the top six individual finishers, they performed very well without injured senior standout and leader, Ryan Kuphall.
“We lost [Ryan] to a stress fracture only a couple of weeks ago. He would have been right with that pack of Butler runners,” Stein said.
Sophomore Danny Docherty found some humor in Butler’s dominance. “Josh was up on the stand accepting his award, and there were six other Butler guys up there with him. So it was Butler in their navy blue warm-ups and then him, sporting [a] maroon Rambler hoodie. One of the guys from the team, [sophomore] Nolan Fine, shouted from the crowd, ‘Hey Josh, you’re breaking up the team picture!,’ so at least we succeed in breaking up some Butler dominance.”
Reifenberg came in four seconds behind Stein, and was named Second Team All-Horizon for his efforts. Docherty, senior Matt McCabe and junior Anthony Wile rounded out the Rambler effort with 16th, 18th and 21st finishes.
The women’s race saw lots of parallels. They too finished second in their race, and had a pair of runners nab seventh and eighth in senior Jessie Morgenthal and sophomore Jen Rock. Morgenthal was also nabbed first team honors, while Rock and freshman Gina Valgoi were named to the second team after Valgoi charged hard the last 100 meters.
Fifth-year senior Pam Staton, who finished two spots behind Valgoi at 15th and just missed, was proud of the Ramblers’ effort at the race.
“We were very happy being the runners up. The course and weather was very tough but we all ran strong and raced with a lot of heart.”
Both teams travel to Springfield, Mo., for Regional competition on Nov. 14 at 11 a.m., and hope to carry the momentum from their strong showing forward and step up to the stiff competition they’re sure to face.
“It’s a longer race (10k), so at this point, we will really be emphasizing aerobic fitness and making sure everyone is at the highest possible level of health. Ben [Reifenberg] and I will be aiming for an all regional finish (top 25),” said Stein on his team’s preparations for the important stage.
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