EVANSVILLE, Ind.--Over the last four years, University of Evansville senior runner Andrea Sonnenschein (Poy Sippi, Wis./Berlin) has completely rewritten the UE women’s cross country record book. So, it was only fitting that Sonnenschein posted a new school-record 5-K time of 17:30.16 in her final home meet Saturday at the UE Invitational in Evansville, Indiana.
Sonnenschein lowered her own personal-best mark in the 5-K by eight seconds, as she cracked the 18-minute barrier in the 5-K for just the second time in UE history to help the Purple Aces finish third in the 17-team field on the women’s side. On the men’s side, sophomore Greg Pulscher (Colorado Springs, Colo./Liberty) led a pack of 11 different Purple Aces who set new personal-best times on the cross country course Saturday, as he placed sixth overall to help UE place second out of 16 teams overall.
“It really is only fitting that Andrea was able to lower her own school record today,” said UE head coach Don Walters. “She has owned the school mark in the 4-, 5-, and 6-K events since she has been here, so to close your home career with another school record is only fitting. Hopefully, she is not done setting school records though, because we still have two meets left this season.
“Overall, I was really pleased with how both the men and the women ran. On the men’s side, we had a lot of P.R. times and were able to finish second. On the women’s side, we also had a lot of P.R. times, and we were just eight points shy of beating Creighton for second place. Both teams continue to get stronger and stronger each and every time out, and hopefully, that will be the case once again in two weeks at the MVC Championships.”
On the women’s side, Evansville’s first seven runners who crossed the finish line did so in new personal-best fashion, including Sonnenschein’s sub-18-minute mark and fellow senior Andrea Hoy’s (Mt. Vernon, Ill./Mt. Vernon Township) first sub-19-minute 5-K time as a Purple Ace (18:47.03). Sophomore Arrena Svoboda (19:17.57-23rd) and freshman Melissa Truex (25th-19:20.43) joined Sonnenschein (second) and Hoy (13th) in the Top 25, while sophomore Courtney Heller (19:48.66-35th) and freshman Jaclyn Dippel (19:53.30-38th) also clocked in under 20 minutes in the 124-runner field. Undefeated Laura Rolf of Valparaiso took home the individual title in a blistering time of 16:40.33, while Murray State took home the women’s team title.
On the men’s side, Pulscher cut nearly a minute off of his previous-best 8-K mark by finishing sixth in the 132-runner field in a time of 25:18.65. Freshman Ryan Witters (Evansville, Ind./Memorial) joined Pulscher under 26 minutes with a time of 25:56.99 to place 13th overall, while sophomores Brian Joyce (26:15.88-19th) and Ethan Merkel (26:32.47-26th) and freshman Brian Denny (26:21.73-22nd) also scored out for the Purple Aces. Former Purple Ace Nick Waninger won the individual title in a course-record 8-K time of 24:06.72, while Creighton knocked off Evansville for the team title in a battle of Missouri Valley Conference rivals.
Evansville will return to action next in two weeks, as the Purple Aces will travel to Cedar Falls, Iowa to compete in the State Farm MVC Championships. The meet is set to begin at 10:30 a.m. with the men’s 8-K event.
