The Lake Forest College cross country teams traveled to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to compete in the Midwest Conference Championships on Saturday. Junior Rocco DiMatteo led the Forester men to a third-place finish while the Lake Forest women placed fifth. The teams combined for a league-best seven all-conference honors.
DiMatteo was one of four Forester men to earn All-MWC honors by placing among the top 20 finishers. He was ninth out of 135 runners overall with an 8-kilometer time of 26:55.2. Sophomore Jonathan Stern was next on the team and 16th overall in 27:06.5. Freshman Jorge Villanueva finished 18th with a time of 27:09.7 and junior Sintayehu Regassa was the next runner across the line at 27:13.0. Junior Mansur Soeleman rounded out the team's top five in 26th place with a time of 27:39.0.
Regassa and Stern, who also earned all-conference honors a year ago, became just the second and third runners in program history to accomplish that feat twice.
Lake Forest junior Kristen Whitney repeated as an All-MWC performer on the women's side, placing 15th out of 155 runners. Her 6-kilometer time of 23:53.1 ranks 18th in program history. Classmate Andrea Lorch was the next runner to finish just nine-tenths of a second later and her time ranks 20th in team annals. Sophomore Cassie Lira joined them as all-conference honorees, finishing 19th in 24:08.4. Sophomore Alexia Leonardo came in 27th in 24:31.0 and junior Abigail Toohey completed the team's top five with a 48th-place time of 25:06.5.
The Grinnell College men claimed their fourth consecutive title and host Cornell College finished first on the women's side.
The Foresters matched their performance last year as the best combined finish in team history. In addition to leading all schools in the league this season, their seven all-conference selections are the most in program history.
Lake Forest will compete against North Park University in next Friday's Viking Trials. Select members of the team will then travel to Rock Island, Illinois, for the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional Meet on November 14.
