MEQUON, Wis. – The UW-Stevens Point men's cross country team ran to a first place finish on Saturday at the 2015 Ken Weidt Classic, placing seven runners in the top 15 en route to 31 team points. The women's team placed four in the top 14 finishing second with 62 points.

Men's Results | Women's Results

THE BASICS
LOCATION: Ken Weidt Classic – Mequon, Wis.
UWSP Men: 1st of 13 teams
UWSP Women: 2nd of 16 teams

POINTERS TOP FIVE PERFORMERS
Men
Luke Johnston (Mokena, IL/Lincoln-Way East) paced the field to bring home the individual title at the event, posting a time of 26:36.5
Neil Pedersen (Clarndon Hills, IL/Hinsdale Central) finished second, just four seconds off Johnson's pace with a time of 26:40.1
Ryan Spahn (DeForest, WI/DeForest Area) finished in sixth place overall with a time of 27:01.9
Dane Tyler (Janesville, WI/Parker) finished 10th overall with a time of 27:17.
Tyler Tanko (Stevens Point, WI/SPASH) rounded out the top five finishers for UWSP, finishing 12^th overall with a time of 27:28.3

Women
Holly Winberg (Forest Lake, MN/Forest Lake) was the top finisher for the Pointers, finishing third overall with a time of 23:48.0
Katie Larson (Milwaukee, WI/West Allis Central) finished 11th overall with a time of 24:36.3
Emily Schlebecker (Mundelein, IL/Mendelein) posted the third-best time of the day for UWSP finishing 13th overall with a time of 24:49.7
Amelia Fass (Madison, WI/James Madison) finished 21st overall with a time of 24:51.9
Kara Hoier (New London, WI/New London) rounded out the top five for the Pointers with a 21st place finish in a time of 25:17.6

COACH'S TAKE
"Both teams ran well for a first meet and we learned some things that we need to work on," said Rick Witt, the director of the UWSP program. "On the women's side, Holly (Winberg) has established herself as a legitimate No. 1 runner. Her third-place finish was her highest as a Pointer and I know she is capable of even more. Our women's team really needs to work on closing the gap between out top five runners. Kara (Hoier) ran much better and is giving us that fifth runner we need her to be. I was also very please with two of our freshmen, Karley Tennant and Kari Beckman (Vesper, WI/Pittsville)."

"On the guys side, we dominated the meet, placing six in the top 15 places," Witt added. "Luke (Johnston) won his first collegiate race and Neil (Pedersen) gave us a great 1-2 with his second-place finish. I was very pleased with our freshmen, as we had five in the top 30. I thought Tyler (Tanko), in particular, ran very well with his 12th-place finish. We still have a lot of work to do as we need to get out 1-5 time split down under 30 seconds, as today it was 50 seconds."

UP NEXT
The Pointers head to Rock Island, Ill. on Friday, Aug. 25 for the Augustana Inviational.