XC captures team championship

The Luther College women’s cross country team captured the St. Catherine University Invitational team championship on a chilly morning in St. Paul, Minn. Luther’s top seven runners all finished in the top 11 from the field of 73 runners.

Luther tallied a team total of 32 points, finishing well ahead of runner-up Hamline University (Minn.) with 57 and Macalester College (Minn.) with 62.

Katie Dolan (‘11) led the Norse with a third place finish clocked at 14:50. She was followed by Sarah Lundine (‘11) (5th, 15:11), Kim Horner (‘11) (7th, 15:17), Sharon Heyer (‘10) (8th, 15:23) and Melissa Erickson (‘12) (9th, 15:27). Lisa Wegman (‘12) (10th, 15:37) and Julia Schiefelbein (‘11) (11th, 15:38) rounded out the top seven.

The men’s team also did well at the St. Catherine’s University Invitational, placing second out of three teams posting a point total of 50, which was one better than third place Hamline (Minn.). The University of St. Thomas (Minn.) won the team title with 25 points.

Drew Burmahl (‘10) led Luther’s top five finish. Burmahl finished fourth from the field of 69 runners, crossing the finish line in 12:33. He was followed by Kyle Buck (‘11) (10th, 12:49), Karl Larson (‘10) (11th, 12:49), Marty Mitchell (‘13) (12th, 12:50) and Evan Neubauer (‘13) (13th, 12:51).

Jordan Lang (‘11) (14th, 12:52) and Mike Switzer (‘10) (16th, 12:55) rounded out Luther’s top seven.

The Norse will return to action Sat. Oct. 17 when they travel to West Salem, Wisc., for the UW-La Crosse Jim Drews Invitational. The women’s race will start at 11:30 a.m. on the Maple Grove Golf Course, the men at 10:30 a.m.