The UW-Platteville men’s Cross Country team had one of their best seasons in school history in 2009. The team placed ninth in the nation in the NCAA Divsion III Championships, the team’s highest finish ever.  Coach Tom Antczak received WIAC Conference Coach of the Year and senior electrical engineering major Jason Garvens was awarded WIAC Conference Athlete of the Year. These awards are voted on by all of the coaches in the WIAC conference. This is the first year that these awards have been given.

This past season, the team beat UW-La Crosse, ranked 10th in the nation, for the first time.

“It was not the big goal to beat them, our big goal was to be in the top 10 at nationals,” Antczak said. “It was nice to beat who you consider the best team. They have plenty of national trophies, so to beat them was satisfying.”

To run in the national meet on Nov. 14, the team needed to place in the top five at the regional meet. This year UW-P placed fourth at the regional meet and advanced to nationals.

“We did not run out best, but we still ran well,” coach Antczak said. Garvens placed fifth.

“The race at nationals I tried to treat like any other race and not let myself get swept up in the hype of it all like some runners do,” Garvens said. “I stayed very relaxed the first four miles, and sat with the lead pack and then really put in a strong effort the last mile to get ahead of the competition.”

Garvens held to this strategy throughout the season, for both regional and national races.

“I ran a personal record time at the regional race for an 8000 meter course, which is the typical distance we run,” Garvens said. “I ran 24:25 at regionals which is an average of about 4:55 per mile.”

Also at the national meet, Pat placed 56th, which is still a strong representation for UW-P. During the season, Klein strained his calf and was out for two weeks.

“The nationals race went well, I just saved too much for the end. The course was very wet, just wasn’t the day to be an All-American,” Klein said.

Overall the team did not have any major challenges throughout the season, a few bumps and bruises but nothing major.

“I am also very proud of my team,” Garvens said. “We were very supportive of one another and due to that, we took home ninth place at nationals, is a school best, and very close to our team goal of eighth we made at the start of the season.”