November 15, 2003

CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA . . . The Wartburg College men’s cross country team won its first Central Regional Championship on Saturday at Oakland Acres Golf Course in Grinnell, Iowa. The Knights were led by individual Champion Josh Moen, who finished the 8,000-meter race in 24:10. On the women’s side, Wartburg’s Missy Buttry won her second straight regional title, finishing the 6,000-meter course in 19:28 leading the Knights to a second place team finish.

Both Wartburg teams along with the Loras College men’s team qualified as a team for next Saturday’s National Championship in Hanover, Ind. as the top-three teams from the Central Region qualify for Nationals. Loras finished third led by a third place finish by four-time Iowa Conference Champion Marcus Murphy.

In addition to the three teams that qualified, the top-five individual finishers not on a qualifying team will compete at the National Championship. Luther’s Natalie Retrum and Krista Nelson along with Coe’s Jenna Boerboom all qualified on the women’s side. Retrum finished fourth in 22:26. Nelson finished eighth in 22:33 and Boerboom finished ninth in 22:39.

ALL-REGION RUNNERS: The top-35 finishers in both the men’s and women’s race are designated All-Region. In addition to Moen and Murphy, other men’s All-Region runners from the IIAC were Loras’ Dan Winder (5th place) and Jason Flogel (12th place), Luther’s Adam Bohach (15th place), and Wartburg’s Mitch Allen (9th place), Jeff Davis (10th place), Adam Tjeerdsma (25th place) and Keith Solverson (30th place).

Joining Buttry, Retrum, Nelson and Boerboom with women’s All-Region honors were Central’s Beth Cunningham (12th place), Coe’s Meredith Dobson (26th place), Loras’ Erin Goebel (33rd place), Luther’s Emily Lynch (15th place), Simpson’s Jen Wendt (25th place), and Wartburg’s Beth Neal (10th place) and Katie Croker (20th place).

Complete results can be found here - men/women

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