| October 30, 2004
PELLA, IOWA . . . The Luther College
women and Wartburg College men repeated as Iowa Intercollegiate
Athletic Conference (IIAC) cross country Champions capturing titles
at the Conference Championship at Central College on Saturday. Wartburg’s
Missy Buttry won the women’s 6,000-meter race and
Wartburg’s Josh Moen won the men’s 8,000-meter
race marking the fifth time in Conference history, and first time
since 1996, both individual runners competed for the same school.
Women’s Race: Buttry
won her third straight Conference title, finishing in 20:15, nearly
three minutes ahead of runner-up Emily Lynch of
Luther who finished in 23:01. Buttry, the two-time National Champion,
became the IIAC’s fourth three-time Champion and also earned her
third straight Conference Most Valuable Runner award. Central’s
Beth Cunningham (23:04), Luther’s Natalie
Retrum (23:21) and Luther’s Krista Nelson (23:29)
round out the top-5. The top-15 finishers are named All-Conference.
With five top-10 finishers, Luther won its second
straight and Conference-record ninth overall women’s cross country
title. With 25 points, the Norse defeated runner-up Wartburg by
25 points and third-place Central by 47 points.
Men’s Race: Despite strong
winds, Moen set the Conference 8,000-meter record finishing in 25:02,
breaking the mark of 25:06.6 set by Loras’ Marcus Murphy
in 2002. Moen finished 1-minute ahead of runner-up Dan
Winder of Loras, who ran 26:02. Moen, the defending National
Champion, was also named the Conference Most Valuable Runner. Wartburg’s
Keith Solverson (26:18), Loras’ Ben Grant
(26:27) and Loras’ Jason Flogel (26:28)
round out the top-5. The top-15 finishers are named All-Conference.
With five top-10 finishers, Wartburg won its seventh
straight men’s cross country title with 27 points. Behind four top-15
finishes, Loras finished second with 43 points followed by Luther
with 88 points.
After becoming the first runners from the same
school to win National Championships in the same year in 2003, Buttry
and Moen are the first runners from the same school to win Iowa
Conference titles in the same year since Luther’s Turena
Johnson and Mark Sundet did so in 1996.
That duo also accomplished the feat in 1995. In 1989 Simpson’s Dave
Halferty and Sarah Cross both won individual
titles as did Luther’s Al Livingood and Linda
Swenson in 1985.
Coaches of the Year: Luther’s
Betsy Emerson and Wartburg’s Steve Johnson
were named IIAC women’s cross country and men’s cross country
Coach of the Year, respectively. For Emerson, it is the sixth time
since 1995 she has been so honored. For Johnson, it is the eighth
time since 1994 that he has been so honored.
Complete results: Men/Women
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