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December 1, 2001

2009 Season - 2001 Men's Cross Country Review

NCAA QUALIFIER RUDY KOVACHEVICH TAKES HOME MOST VALUABLE PERFORMER HONOR FOR AUGUSTANA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY TEAM

Rudy Kovachevich (Carl Sandburg HS, Orland Park, IL) ran in eight meets for the 2001 Augustana men's cross country team and was the Vikings top finisher in every one. He had a total of five top ten finishes, was fourth in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin championship and was the lone Augustana qualifier for the NCAA Division III national meet. It comes as no surprise then, that Kovachevich has been selected as the Most Valuable Performer for the 2001 season according to a vote of his teammates. It was the second straight MVP award for Kovachevich, who a year ago was selected to the Verizon Academic All-American team in the At Large Division during the fall and spring.

Kovachevich was a steady performer all season for veteran head coach Paul Olsen. He started things out with a third place finish in the always tough Luther Invitational and he never looked back. At the Brissman/Lundeen Invitational on September 28 he turned in a tremendous performance with an 11th place finish in a time of 25:12 at Highland Springs Golf Course in Rock Island. Thanks to his individual effort, the Vikings placed fifth as a team in the 32 team meet that featured a number of ranked teams.

A week later he was third in the Midwest Challenge at Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax, Wisconsin with a time of 25:44 and once again his individual performance carried over to the team as the Vikings won the meet with 48 points. Kovachevich placed 19th in the Jim Drews Invitational on October 13 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.

He ran a great race in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin meet on October 27 in Elmhurst, finishing fourth in a time of 25:40. He placed 16th in the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional on November 10 at Highland Springs in a time of 25:13 and that effort was good enough to qualify him for the NCAA Division III national meet. His fourth place finish in the CCIW was the best placing of an Augustana runner since Ambo Bati won the individual title in 1996.

As a team, the Vikings flirted with a top 20 ranking during the year and at the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional came within eight points of qualifying for the national meet. UW-LaCrosse won the regional with 44 points and UW-Platteville took the fifth and last qualifying spot with 222 points while veteran head coach Paul Olsen's team was seventh with 230. Earlier in the season, Augustana had finished third in the CCIW, third in the Luther All-American Invitational and fifth in the Brissman/Lundeen Invitational. The Vikings won the Midwest challenge and defeated Coe in a dual meet by a score of 15-50.

Besides Kovachevich, sophomore Randy Bill (Bureau Valley HS, Buda, IL) also had a great year, finishing sixth in the CCIW. He was ninth at the Luther All-American Invitational and fifth in the Midwest Challenge.

Sophomore Dan Finn (Westmont HS, Westmont, IL) and senior Jeff Paul (Pleasant Valley HS, LeClaire, IA) shared the Most Improved Runner honor and Craig Lawrence (Rock Island HS, Rock Island, IL) was named the winner of the Lincoln Smith Most Inspirational Award. Ammon Paquette (United Township HS, Hampton, IL) took home the Most Valuable Freshman honor.

Kovachevich and Lawrence served as team captains in 2001 and the captains-elect for 2002 will be Will Dwyer (Rich East HS, Park Forest, IL), Paul and Steve Wahls (Pontiac HS, Chenoa, IL).

2001 AUGUSTANA MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY SUPERLATIVES

CCIW TOP TEN: Rudy Kovachevich (4th) & Randy Bill (6th)

NCAA DIVISION III NATIONAL QUALIFIER: Rudy Kovachevich

DIVISION III CROSS COUNTRY COACHES ASSOCIATION ACADEMIC TEAM AWARD: 3.47 cumulative GPA - Rudy Kovachevich, Randy Bill, Brad Slupianek, Ammon Paquette, John Knudson, Jeff Paul & Ryan Chapman

MOST VALUABLE PERFORMER: Rudy Kovachevich

MOST IMPROVED RUNNER: Dan Finn & Jeff Paul

LINCOLN SMITH MOST INSPIRATIONAL AWARD: Craig Lawrence

MOST VALUABLE FRESHMAN: Ammon Paquette

TEAM CAPTAINS 2001: Rudy Kovachevich & Craig Lawrence

CAPTAINS-ELECT 2002: Will Dwyer, Jeff Paul & Steve Wahls

2001 AUGUSTANA VIKINGS MEN'S CROSS COUNTRY LETTERWINNERS

* - Denotes letters won.

(C) - Denotes team captains.

College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin Cross Country Championship

October 27, 2001 * Elmhurst, Illinois

Team Scores

Individual Results