John Cusick
Sep 13, 20229 min
Edits and additional commentary by Garrett Zatlin
The Augustana (SD) men enjoyed a successful 2021 fall campaign which saw them finish as the fourth-best team in the country at the NCAA XC Championships.
Their success should come as no surprise, either.
Ever since Coach Tracy Hellman took over the program in 2000, the Vikings have had 11 top-10 team finishes, firmly entrenching themselves as a powerhouse program in a division dominated by altitude-centric schools.
As we gear up for the 2022-23 calendar year, the expectation is that this program will not only be a top-10 team yet again, but maybe even a podium favorite once more.
And despite losing three scorers from last year's loaded lineup, the Vikings will boast firepower and a team dynamic that should be incredibly difficult to take down this fall.
The Viking men began to their 2021 cross country at the annual Augustana Twilight Cross Country meet hosted on their home course. However, In a highly contested battle with South Dakota State, the Vikings ultimately fell short by six points.
South Dakota State scored 29 points to the Vikings' 35 points.
Second-year freshman Ryan Hartman was the lead runner for the Vikings that day, taking home the individual victory by a whopping 13 seconds. Behind him were teammates Kray Person who finished in 6th place, Henry Klitzke who placed 8th, Alec Kray who finished 9th overall and Evan Johnson who was the final scorer in 11th place.
While that four-mile race was historically a good rust-buster for the Vikings, deciphering how strong this team would be from just that meet alone was not feasible.
Luckily, the Vikings' next meet on the schedule was the Chile Pepper XC Festival, a meet that was nothing short of fantastic for an Augustana team that clearly wanted to make a statement.
Hartman continued his monster breakout season with a strong 20th place finish in the loaded field with teammate Klitzke five spots back in 25th place. Colten Brand was close behind in 29th place, making it three Vikings inside the top-30!
With Person, Johnson and Kray as the next three runners for the Vikings, going 41-44-46 in the overall results, the overall scoring structure of this team looked extremely dangerous. Boasting numerous low-sticks and a supporting cast void of flaws allowed the Augustana men to score 131 team points and earn a monster 2nd place finish.
The only team that finished in front of them was Colorado Mines who scored 39 points.
Despite losing to the juggernaut team known as the Orediggers, the Vikings still claimed head-to-head victories over this year's TSR #10 team Western Colorado as well as a promising Alabama-Huntsville squad.
That would ultimately be the end of the Vikings' regular season schedule, but their success certainly didn't stop there.
Augustana ran away with the NSIC XC Championships title, scoring a perfect 15 points in admittedly unsurprising fashion. The combination of Austin Miller (who was the team's seventh runner at Chile Pepper), Hartman, Klitzke, Person and Brand took the top-five spots for a sweep of the field.
For good measure, Johnson was 6th overall and Matt Steiger was 9th overall, making it pure domination from the Vikings with seven athletes inside the top-nine.
That success continued two weeks later at the Central Regional XC Championships where the Vikings rolled to another team title, scoring 43 points to defeat a talented Missouri Southern squad by 38 points.
Hartman, Miller and Person all finished inside the top-10, going 4-5-7 to get the Vikings off to a fantastic start. And with Kray and Johnson emerging as the final two scorers in 13th and 14th place, respectively, the Augustana men secured the program's first Central regional title since 2017.
All seven runners finished inside the top-20 that day and their time-spread was spectacular once again as just 37 seconds separated their scorers. When you combine their low-stick firepower with their ability to race as a cohesive unit, it was not much of a shock that this team was hard to beat.
The Vikings took their success from their postseason meets and translated those results to the season's biggest stage where their breakout season would ultimately conclude.
Hartman secured All-American honors in his first showing at the national meet, finishing 22nd overall and further establishing himself as the national-caliber low-stick that we knew he was capable of being. Klitzke also garnered All-American honors for the first time in his career, finishing 36th overall.
That was an excellent start to the day for a Vikings team that was more than alright on depth, but potentially unsure as to how much All-American scoring potency they could offer.
And sure enough, the rest of this lineup delivered outstanding results, once again showing zero weak points. Miller was 47th, Steiger placed 69th and Person finished 78th overall to give their team a total of 222 points, a score that comfortably gave the Vikings a 4th place podium finish.
And truthfully, when looking at those national meet results, there's not much more that the Vikings could have done to improve their team positioning.
Sure, Johnson and Kray could have maybe run better, but the team would have likely needed another top-50 performance from one of their scorers to come close to the 3rd place team in Colorado Mines.
We've already mentioned that the Vikings are losing three of their men from last year's national lineup. We'll admit, that's fairly concerning, especially since there seemed to be so much outstanding chemistry with last year's top-seven as far as pack running was concerned.
Losing Austin Miller, Evan Johnson and Alec Kray is a hit that most teams would struggle to handle. Those three men were absolutely pivotal to the overall success of this lineup throughout last fall. They were very reliable names and were the entire reason why this varsity group never had a bad race. Even Miller showed low-stick potential at times!
But here's the thing: Miller is the only guy who is not returning from last year's top-five at the national meet. Both Johnson and Kray were the team's sixth and seventh runners on the Saint Leo cross country course last fall.
Not only that, but we think that the Vikings have done a fantastic job of retooling their roster for the 2022 cross country season. In our eyes, they'll be just as good as they were last fall.
Let's first begin our analysis with Ryan Hartman, the third-year sophomore who oozes elite potential and upside. He checked into our preseason individual rankings at TSR #10 for the 2022 season and he'll be leading this Vikings team over the fall months like he did last year.
And to be clear, Hartman's success on the grass was no fluke. He continued his phenomenal year on the track by running 4:04 in the mile, 8:04 for 3000 meters, 13:59 for 5000 meters and 8:44 for the steeplechase.
Those are truly upper-echelon times in the Division Two ranks and it only makes us believe that he'll be better on the grass in 2022.
That said, replicating his 2021 national meet performance will not be enough for this team. He will need to improve upon that 22nd place finish from last year if this team is going to collectively cover the scoring loss of Austin Miller.
Also returning for the 2022 cross country season is the Vikings' second All-American in Henry Klitzke, one of the more pleasant surprise of last fall.
Klitzke had the best year of his Viking career over the last 12 months, but he will need another career season over the next few months of competition for this team to meet their massive expectations.
Klitzke's 36th place All-American finish from the national meet was an improvement of 108 spots from the year prior. And while an improvement of that magnitude isn't likely for the 2022 season, being inside the top-40 once more will be necessary for him if Augustana is going to make another run at the podium.
Klitzke's times on the track aren't the same caliber as the rest of the country, but he has still run very solid marks 8:16 (3k), 14:15 (5k) and 30:04 (10k). Those times still hold their own in a field as large as the national meet, making him a worthy second scorer yet again in 2022.
Matt Steiger is the next returner from last year's squad. He served as the team's fourth scorer with a 69th place finish at the national meet, although one could argue that he has shown flashes of being more than that.
Last fall, Steiger stepped into a varsity role at the NSIC XC Championships and at the Central Regional XC Championships. He ultimately finished 9th and 18th, respectively, but he was a very strong seventh runner who kept the lineup gaps at a minimum.
Then, on the track, Steiger set personal bests in the middle distance events during the winter and spring months, running 4:13 in the mile and 3:55 for 1500 meters. However, he is known more as a traditional long distance athlete. He's run 8:23 (3k) and 14:28 (5k) while covering a 10k course on the grass in a time of 30:18.
In our eyes, Stieger is better on the grass than the track, meaning that if his track progression carries over to the fall months, then he'll likely be improved as a scorer this fall.
The last returner from the Vikings' podium team is Kray Person who falls into the same category that Steiger does. Person was the fifth scorer for Augustana men last year and will prove to a crucial lineup member once more in 2022.
He holds personal bests of 8:32 (3k), 14:23 (5k) and 31:39 (10k). All of those marks are respectable, but his 5k time indicates that he should probably be faster than he currently is in the 3k and 10k.
It's also worth noting that he has run 29:59 for 10k on the grass. While cross country times are a controversial topic, that at least tells us that Person is capable of bringing the same great top-80 national meet scoring that we saw from him throughout last fall.
Through four runners, things look good the Augustana men. They've got two returning All-Americans as well as two returning veterans who should offer great stability and even some upside.
But those four men alone can't be responsible for Augustana's TSR #4 ranking. After all, the depth of this team is now in serious question with three core lineup contributors now gone.
Luckily, Jesse Kaas is a transfer from the University of Mary who should step right in and fill the role of a top-seven runner on this team.
The projected varsity contributor holds personal bests of 8:24 (3k) and 14:28 (5k). He fits the mold of being a really nice distance-centric scoring piece for this Augustana team. On paper, he matches the skillset that Stieger and Person bring to the table.
However, maybe more importantly, Kaas also brings some experience racing on the grass with him. He finished 17th at the 2019 Central Regional XC Championships in his most successful campaign on the grass. He was also 41st for U-Mary at the 2021 Central Regional XC Championships after finishing 11th at the 2021 NSIC XC Championships two weeks earlier.
Kaas should immediately come in and serve as a very strong runner for the Vikings this fall, shoring up some holes left behind by graduating athletes.
Of course, the new additions don't stop there.
Erik Gunderson comes to Augustana by way of Norway and will be an immediate impact runner for this squad this fall as well. He holds personal bests of 8:17 (3k), 14:28 (5k) and 29:58 (10k), already making him one of the better runners on this team.
We don't have any data on what Gunderson looks like when running on the grass, but we feel confident that someone of his caliber will be VERY successful. He'll be, at the very least, be a top-five scorer, but maybe even an All-American as well.
Also expected to make an impact for the Vikings this fall is a standout runner from the track, Colten Brand.
We saw Brand finish as the team's third scorer at the Chile Pepper XC Festival last fall and then the team's fifth scorer at the NSIC XC Championships. He was ultimately left off of the regional and national meet rosters, but that likely won't be the case this year.
Brand set personal bests of 4:07 (mile), 8:18 (3k) and 14:26 (5k) during the track seasons, making him another viable option for Augustana in 2022. With his rise, the depth concerns that we once had for the Vikings this fall are suddenly a non-issue.
The 2021 cross country season was a successful one for the Vikings, and despite losing three critical scorers from that national meet team, the expectations remain the same in 2022. Their depth is going to be just as good as it was last year and almost everyone who returns has the chance to get even better.
Yes, a few things have to break favorably for Augustana to get back on the podium, but they seemingly have seven men who are capable of being top-80 national meet finishers. Very few teams can say that.
In fact, with two low-sticks leading the way and an injection of new talent now donning Augustana singlets, the Viking men might actually be even deeper this fall than they were last year.
Whether or not they deliver on those expectations is ultimately up to them, but given the program's recent history, the idea of a repeat podium result seems more likely than not.