Former Bulldogs end college XC season in style

BETTENDORF, Iowa — Former Sandpoint cross country runner Evan Rains capped his sophomore season with a personal best 27:55 in an 8K race to lead the Viterbo University men’s cross country team to a fifth place finish at the 23rd annual Midwest Collegiate Conference Championships recently.

Rains, the top finisher for the Viterbo men, finished 14th overall out of 57 runners in the final race of the season.

“Our top three ran with a lot of guts today,” said head coach John Metelko. “They knew that each of them had a shot at moving on to Nationals and that it would take a big performance.”

For his performance in the championship race, Rains was recognized as Honorable Mention All-Conference for the second consecutive year.

n Burgstahler helps St. Scholastica to championship

NEW ULM, Minn. — The St. Scholastica women’s cross country team won the UMAC Championship meet for the 12th consecutive year recently at Flandreau State Park.

The Saints had seven runners finish in the top 11 and won with a total of 22 points. The University of Minnesota Morris was second with 54 points. North Central University was third with 94 points.

Former Sandpoint runner Molly Burgstahler was 15th with a time of 24:45. She ranks 13th on the program’s fastest 6K list, clocking a 24:27 in 2011 during her freshman season.

Burgstahler is an Academic All-UMAC in both cross country and track & field, and made the Dean’s List.