Winning the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) championship for the third year in a row is something UW- Eau Claire’s men’s cross country team can be proud of following last weekend’s meet in Stevens Point.

The men’s team finished with 41 points in front of UW-La Crosse with 50 points. Junior Darin Lau came in second place with a time of 24:19, 24 seconds after two-time conference champion from UW-Platteville, Ian LaMere.

The women came in third place, and Coach Dan Schwamberger said it was their best team performance so far this season. They finished with 61 points, just five points behind UW-Oshkosh.

Schwamberger said it was really good to see his runners compete. The weather was perfect and many fans came out to support the Blugolds.

Morgan Marek finished first for the Blugolds taking fifth place overall and scoring herself a spot on the WIAC First Team All-Conference, home to the top seven finishers of race.

Sophomore runner Patrick Treacy finished eighth overall and was third for the Blugolds.

“I think it was our best performance of the year,” Treacy said.

Treacy said the team’s win at conference is a good sign for future races at regionals and nationals in the coming weeks. The WIAA National meet is in three weeks and he said the competition will be high with a lot of talented runners.

With his personal season exceeding his expectations so far, Treacy said he is pleased with the progress he has made. He said by trusting in the training, his confidence has grown and his performance has improved.

Lexie Tremble, a sophomore runner, said she is very excited for the coming weeks and with Schwamberger’s training, the team should be able to outrun Oshkosh at regionals and place top five.

Tremble said the women’s team has been pretty consistent with their results, and the girls should be prepared to compete hard at regionals and nationals. She said she thinks many women will be able to place in the top 35 at regionals.

At conference, the top 12 runners on each team competed for the title. At the regional and national meets, only seven runners race per team. Tremble will be the alternate runner at regionals and the runners coming in ninth through 12th will compete at the Gender Equity meet next week on Saturday in Platteville. However, those who did not compete at conference will also race.  

This event operates differently than the traditional race, which is divided into two separate races for men and women. Men start their 8K race two minutes and 40 seconds before the women start their 6K race, so at the end, there will be either one man or one women that win the race.

UW-Platteville, UW-La Crosse and Eau Claire will compete at the meet. The event begins at 12:01 p.m. Saturday at Cole Acres Golf Course in Cuba City, Wisconsin.

Regionals will take place at UW-Oshkosh the following week.