Saturday, November 13, 2010

The Valparaiso men's cross country team closed out the 2010 campaign Saturday at the NCAA Great Lakes Regional in Rochester, Mich.

The Crusaders tallied 942 points on Saturday, placing 29th in the 31-team field.  Valpo out-paced fellow Horizon League squad Green Bay in the final standings.  Wisconsin earned the team title, while Cincinnati's Eric Finan captured individual top honors.

Senior Joel Hartenberger (Albuquerque, N.M./Sandia) paced the Crusader pack in the final cross country race of his career, covering the 10K course in 34:17.96 to finish in 171st place.  Redshirt sophomore Pat Johnson (Oil City, Pa./Cranberry [Monmouth]) was the second Valpo runner across the line, placing 182nd with a time of 34:39.06.

Junior Jordan Piaskowy (Crete, Ill./Illiana Christian) crossed the line Saturday in 35:12.14, good for 192nd place.  Fellow junior Nick Fagan (Sycamore, Ill./Sycamore) finished just three spots behind Piaskowy, completing the circuit in 35:25.46, while sophomore Wally Bradford (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) rounded out Valpo's top-five runners with a time of 36:06.49 to finish in 202nd place.  Freshman Kiefer Heiman (Nashville, Ill./Nashville) and junior Mack Morris (Eden Prairie, Minn./Benilde-St. Margaret's) completed the Valpo seven-runner contingent Saturday.