NSIC RELEASE
BURNSVILLE, Minn. – The Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference announced Monday that Augustana's
Tom Karbo and
Runa Falch are this week's Athletes of the Week for men's and women's cross country. Both were the individual winners at Saturday's NSIC Championship.
Karbo, a junior from Stord, Norway, covered the 8K course in 25:19.71--more than 10 seconds ahead of Minnesota State's David Barmasai. His performance led the Vikings to the men's title. The Viking men owned five of the top six runners and netted just 19 points to win their second consecutive NSIC championship.
Falch, a redshirt freshman from Steinkjer, Norway, charted a time of 21:10.91, which was 10 seconds better than defending NSIC champion Morgan Place from Minnesota Duluth. Falch trailed Place for much of the race but used a scorching final 1,000 meters to pull ahead. The redshirt freshman anchored Augustana's 39-point performance, which was just three points ahead of runner-up U-Mary. The conference championship was Augustana's third straight.
Augustana's
Tracy Hellman was also named the men's coach of the year on Saturday.
The top 10 finishers from each race on Saturday earned All-NSIC first team honors, while places 11 through 20 were earned second team accolades.
The Augustana men had five first-team honorees and one second-team recipient, while the women earned four first teamers and one second teamer.
For the men, Karbo,
Travis Beniak,
Matt Braithwaite,
Paul Yak and
Daniel Black were named All-NSIC first team, while
Ryan Evans earned second-team honors.
Falch,
Kristin Brondbo,
Miriam Hovda and
Annie Pfeifle garnered first-team accoloades for the women.
Kyle Blakeslee was a second-team honoree.
The Vikings return to action on Nov. 20 at the NCAA Regional in Wayne, Neb.
