Pioneers Win 20th MWC title of last 21 years, share title with Monmouth. Ballew Takes Individual Title

The Grinnell College men's cross country team finished in a first-place tie with Monmouth College at the Midwest Conference Championships on Saturday. The tie marks the first time since 1937 that two teams have claimed the top spot at the meet and gave the Pioneers their 20th conference win in the past 21 years. The Midwest Conference does not break ties in team championships. The two teams ended with 36 points each which was 38 points better than third-place St. Norbert. Beloit (121 points) and Ripon (153 points) rounded out the top-five.

Drake Ballew '08 (left, shown 200 meters from the finish) ran his season-best time of 25:41 to win the individual title by 24 seconds ahead of St. Norbert's Jeff Pentek. David Montgomery '10 (26:13) took third in his first career championship race, while Henry Reich '09 (26:55) crossed the finish-line in sixth. Sam Calisch '10 (27:19) and Charlie Knuth '08 (27:27) took 12th and 14th respectively, while Nick Sparr '09 rounds out the All-Conference runners for the Pioneers by taking 16th.

Coach Will Freeman's comments:

"We ran well today. Five of our top six ran their fastest times of the season today on the hardest course we have run on, all the more impressive since we did not taper any of the top 8 runners for this meet.

I felt bad for Charlie Knuth today. He is normally our no. 2 man, and just had a bad day. He should be fine for regionals.

This is a young and talented team that has run better every time out. Our top nine today were JR, FR, SO, SO, FR,JR,SO,FR and SO. The future looks bright.

Drake Ballew was amazing today. He ran smart and waited for the right moment to step up the pace. He is clearly developing into a national caliber runner.

Everyone is looking forward to the regionals in two weeks."

The NCAA Central Regionals will be held in Northfield, Minn., on November 11th. The men's race is slated to begin at 11:00 a.m.

Click Here for Final Team Results
Click Here for Final Individual Results
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