Summary

The 2016 season saw many of the same faces return for the Sabercats Women's Cross Country Team, which posted PR's on a weekly basis and won the Oshkosh Open on October 21st by topping three WIAC schools for the meet win.

The superlative career of Katie Holbrook came to an end, as Holbrook held the 6K record coming into the season, and broke her own record twice when she posted a time of 24:20 at the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational before posting 24:13 at the Lucian Rosa Invitational.

The Women's squad once again had the maximum seven runners at NCCAA Nationals, and they registered their best team time of 1:46:34 en route to a runner-up finish.

The Men's team seemed to take a step back in terms of national placement, as the back-to-back champions ultimately finished third in the country at the season finale. That setback was due in part to the fact that three of the Sabercats' top seven runners from 2015 did not return to the team. However, beside the struggles during the season, the team peaked to post their best time at the national meet, as they registered a time of 2:30:33.

"The thing that really impressed me with this [Men's] team was their determination to work hard and fight through their hardships," said head coach Ruth Steinbart. "They had to overcome a lot of things this year, but they were determined to work their hardest . . . That kind of work ethic and never-give-up spirit really helped them as they battled through their tough season."

Quick Facts

• Men's Best Finish: 3rd - NCCAA Nationals
• Men's Best Time: 2:30:33 - NCCAA Nationals
• Women's Best Finish: 1st - Oshkosh Open
• Women's Best Time: 1:46:34
• NCCAA All-American Selections: 
  • Katie Holbrook - 2nd Place at NCCAA Nationals
• AD3I All-Independent Selections: 
  • Katie Holbrook (1st team), Josh Kruit (3rd team), Cameron Rankin (3rd team), Kimberly Richerson (2nd team), Sarah Vander Pluym (2nd team), Kurt Wagner (3rd team)
• NCCAA Scholar-Athletes: 
  • Katie Holbrook, Titus Juvinall, Josh Kruit, Arthur Nutzhorn, Sarah Vander Pluym, Timothy Warren

Coach Steinbart's Thoughts:

 "On the Women's side, our team improved in many ways throughout the season. Our girls' primary goal was to make a good showing at the National Championship. We saw PR's on almost a weekly basis by many of the girls. The girls worked so hard to improve their times and run together. That helped them push each other in practices and meets and it paid off in a big way throughout the season.

"On the Men's side, going into the season we knew it was going to be a hard one since we were missing three of our top seven from last year including our top runner. Our times were not where we wanted them but the team really grew closer together as they encouraged each other and improved their times individually.

"[Next year], we will be in a rebuilding phase with the women’s team as we will probably only have one or two of our top seven returning to run for us. We are working on hopefully getting some good recruits in but I’m not sure what exactly to expect but I’m excited to see who will we get to fill in our gaps.

"For the men's team, I’m excited to see what will happen next year. We shouldn’t lose anyone in our top seven so with having such a good group coming back we can continue building off of this season and hopefully with the new recruits that we will gain, we can see vast improvements in times. I’m excited to see how this team will continue to grow and improve."

Season PR's

Each runner and their PR is listed below for the Men's team for the 2016 season:

• 29:04 - Cameron Rankin - Oshkosh Open
• 29:23 - Josh Kruit - NCCAA Nationals
• 29:24 - Kurt Wagner - Oshkosh Open
• 30:34 - Robert Kile - NCCAA Nationals
• 30:50 - Rory Massey - NCCAA Nationals
• 31:00 - Jeremiah Doak - NCCAA Nationals
• 32:51 - Matthew Nutzhorn - Oshkosh Open
• 33:30 - Ethan Gillespie - Oshkosh Open
• 33:53 - James Rossiter - Oshkosh Open
• 35:58 - Arthur Nutzhorn - Ken Weidt Classic
• 36:28 - Ryan Gick - Lucian Rosa Invitational
• 41:45 - Caleb Gillespie - Oshkosh Open
• 43:36 - Timothy Warren - Brissman-Lundeen Invitational
• 46:39 - Titus Juvinall - Warrior Invitational

And for the Women, the best 6K time for the season is listed below for each runner:

• 24:13 - Katie Holbrook - Lucian Rosa Invitational
• 25:40 - Sarah Vander Pluym - Oshkosh Open
• 25:49 - Kim Richerson - Oshkosh Open
• 26:59 - Anna Brown - Oshkosh Open
• 27:22 - Madelyn Hansel - Oshkosh Open
• 28:17 - Alicyn Wigdal - Oshkosh Open
• 29:07 - Nicole Verhalen - Oshkosh Open
• 31:01 - Lana Bruck - Oshkosh Open
• 31:14 - Emily Moline - Oshkosh Open
• 31:47 - Lauryn Wigdal - Lucian Rosa Invitational
• 31:55 - Laura Massey - Lucian Rosa Invitational

For more on the Sabercats Cross Country Teams including top results, all-time records, and awards, visit the Men's Team page here and the Women's Team page here.