APPLETON, Wis. – Cornell's Isaac vanWestrienen crossed the finish line well ahead of anybody else in Saturday's men's race at the Midwest Conference Cross Country Championships.
 
And much to the junior star's delight, he had a whole lot of teammates in purple heading his way.
 
VanWestrienen was crowned individual champion and among seven Rams to garner all-conference honors as Cornell captured the MWC team title with a 43-55 advantage over runner-up Lawrence at Reid Municipal Golf Course.
 
Coach Jerry Frawley's Rams celebrated the program's fourth team title in the last seven contested Championships. It is the 13th MWC championship in men's cross country, the third-most of any Cornell sport.
 
VanWestrienen lowered his own 8K school record with an impressive time of 24:15, a whopping 45 seconds ahead of runner-up Lance Miller from Knox. VanWestrienen came within 10 seconds of the MWC Championships record that dates back to 1977.
 
VanWestrienen became Cornell's 12th MWC individual champion, and the first to claim gold since Aaron Davidson went back-to-back in 2022 and 2021.
 
Fourth-year head coach Frawley and assistants Haley Harms-Frawley and Alejandro Sanchez were honored as the MWC Coaching Staff of the Year.
 
The Rams equaled the 2022 championship squad for the most all-conference performers at a single MWC meet with seven. Seniors Gabe Soda and Caleb Schopen also made history by earning all-MWC medals for the fourth consecutive year. They are the sixth and seventh Cornell runners to accomplish that feat.
 
Schopen covered the course in 25:29 and placed fifth out of 100 finishers. Soda took 10th in 25:59. They brought in Cornell's second and third scores, respectively.
 
Also reaching the MWC top-20 podium was fifth-year Noah Lutzke in 11th (26:00), senior Ethyn Chesnut in 16th (26:22), senior Gabe Hunt in 18th (26:25) and senior Fisher Isaacson in 19th (26:26).
 
Lutzke and Isaacson raced to all-MWC status for the third time in their careers.
 
Senior Tyler Bilskie (24th in 26:50) and freshman Isaac Morris (34th in 27:14) also finished in the top half of the field for Cornell.
 
Coming up – The Rams compete at Luther's Saga Cup Nov. 8 in Decorah.