2008 Carthage Men’s Cross Country Review/2009 Season Outlook

2008 Season Review

The Carthage College men’s cross country team (52-58), coached by Brett Witt (562-362-1, 8 years), finished 15th at the 2008 NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Championship at the Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island, Ill.  CCIW-member North Central College won the 39-team regional championship with 51 points, followed by Wisconsin-La Crosse second at 64, Wisconsin-Stevens Point third at 83, Wisconsin-Oshkosh fourth at 134, CCIW-member Augustana College (Ill.) fifth at 182, Wisconsin-Eau Claire sixth at 200, conference-member Wheaton College (Ill.) seventh at 228, Wisconsin-Platteville eighth at 274, the University of Chicago ninth at 291, Washington University (Mo.) 10th at 292, Wisconsin-Whitewater 11th at 321, Wisconsin-River Falls 12th at 402, Wisconsin-Stout 13th at 419, St. Norbert College 14th at 438 and Carthage 15th with 455 points.

Joel Brunner (Sr., De Pere, Wis./West De Pere) paced the Red Men with a 40th-place finish and a time of 25:48.60.  Sean O’Connor (Sr., Rockford, Ill./Boylan Catholic) was 87th at 26:48.50, Justin Sebens (So., Seymour, Ill./Mahomet-Seymour) 105th at 27:03.50, Tyler Wishau (Jr., Columbia, Mo./Rock Bridge) 110th at 27:10.60, and B.J. Fuller (Fr., Lake Villa, Ill..Lakes Community) was 113th at 27:13.40.  Also finishing for Carthage were Derek Hall (Fr., Ingleside, Ill./Fox Lake-Grant Community) 121st at 27:17.90 and Tylor Lewis (Jr., Waterford, Wis./Union) 124th at 27:19.60.

Carthage played host to the 2008 CCIW Cross Country Championship on Saturday, Nov. 1 at the Wisconsin-Parkside course in Somers, Wis.  North Central College won its 42nd conference championship and 35th in  arrow with 20 points, followed by Augustana College (Ill.) second at 65, Wheaton College (Ill.) third at 67, Carthage fourth at 130, Elmhurst College fifth at 136, Illinois Wesleyan University sixth at 169, North Park University seventh at 210 and Millikin University eighth with 249 points.

Carthage’s Joel Brunner finished 22nd at the CCIW championship with a time of 26:39.  Sean O’Connor was 27th at 27:05, Tylor Lewis 30th at 27:17, Tyler Wishau 37th at 27:35 and B.J. Fuller 39th at 27:39.  Also finishing for the Red Men were Derek Hall 41st at 27:45, Justin Sebens 42nd at 27:46, Ryan Weber (So., Cary, Ill./Cary-Grove) 50th at 28:07, Josh Solorio (So., West Allis, Wis./Milwaukee-West Allis Central) 55th at 28:28 and Klayton Reed (Fr., Bluffton, Ind./Ossian-Norwell) 59th at 29:14.