Alverno College Athletics - Home of the Inferno

MILWAUKEE -- The Northern Athletics Conference announced that Alverno College senior Kelly Schmidt (Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI) has been named to the conference's 2009 Women's Cross Country All-Sportsmanship Team, which is comprised of 12 individuals who exemplified positive sportsmanship throughout the season. 

Head coach Tim Hanson and assistant coach Chris Young both had words of praise for Schmidt.  “Kelly has been a great addition to our program, both as a runner and a teammate.  We really wish we could have her on the team for more than one year.  She definitely deserves this honor,” said Hanson.

Young goes on to say, “Kelly has, in a single year, provided tremendous enthusiasm and experience as a runner, as well as senior leadership and a strong work ethic.  She is an all-around outstanding teammate and competitor.”

MEQUON, Wis. -- A frigid wind was whipping and the puddles were numerous across the course at the 2009 Northern Athletics Conference Championships, but the Alverno College cross country team was able to disregard the less-than-ideal conditions to earn an eighth place finish out of 10 teams with 181 points on Saturday morning at Concordia University Wisconsin.

"We finished about where we thought we would," said Alverno head coach Tim Hanson. "We're happy we beat Maranatha since we haven't beaten them in the last three years. I think we ran really well despite the conditions. I don't think anyone used it as an excuse and our times were surprisingly pretty good for how windy and sloppy the course was."

MILWAUKEE -- What a difference a year makes. After finishing 11th out of the 11 Northern Athletics Conference teams eligible to compete for a team score at last season's NAC women's cross country championship, the Alverno College squad has consistently been placing in front of a few of its league rivals in its meets up to this point in the season with hopes of carrying over those strong performances into the 2009 NAC Championship this Saturday, Oct. 31, at Concordia University Wisconsin. Meet start time for the 6K distance is set for 11 a.m. in Mequon, Wis.

The program's highest team finish at a NAC Championship was a seventh place effort out of nine teams in 2006, a spot the squad is on track to match, if not break, on Saturday.

RIPON, Wis. -- With just two weeks remaining before the Northern Athletics Conference Cross Country Championship, all five Inferno runners broke their own season bests today at the Wisconsin Private College Championship at Ceresco Park, in a 6K event hosted by Ripon College.

Leading the way was freshman Katie Renteria (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) with an 18th place finish of 84 runners and time of 25:33.7.  Renteria's time was nearly a minute faster than her previous best from just two weeks ago, and places her second all-time in Alverno's record books for the 6K distance.