COLFAX, Wis. – After securing the program's best score of 17 points and a first-place finish in the Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) Championships two weekends ago, the Yellowjacket men's cross country team saw action at the NCAA Division III North Regionals Saturday.
 
Hosted by UW-Eau Claire at Whitetail Golf Course, the Yellowjackets ended the afternoon with 628 points and a 20th place finish against another tough pool of nationally and regionally ranked squads. Earlier this season, the 'Jackets saw action at the home course of the Blugolds and all runners saw some type of improvement from over a month ago.  
 
The Yellowjackets were led by none other than junior Michael Butterfield (Bovey, Minn./Greenway), who clocked a 26:49.4 and landed in 113th overall in a field of 225 competitors, besting his previous 26:50.9 earlier this season. Following him was Zach Reese (Zimmerman, Minn./Spectrum), who ran a 26:52.3 8k time and beat his previous time of 28:26.1.
 
Aidan Doherty (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) ended his afternoon with a 125th place finish running a 27:00.9, which was nearly a minute faster than his previous time at Whitetail Golf Course. Running a 27:03.4 and tailing Doherty was David Collins (Ironwood, Mich./Luther L. Wright), who was followed by Kieran Johnson (South Range, Wis./Northwestern) with an 8k time of 27:34.5, running 13 seconds faster in his second race on the course.
 
Wrapping up the Yellowjackets on the afternoon was Ben Plackner (Bovey, Minn./Greenway) and Tyler Smith (Ironwood, Mich./Ironwood), finishing with times of 27:52.8 and 29:00.9, respectively. Plackner bested his time by over a full minute, while Smith ran a whole two minutes faster in his previous outing.
 
Winning the team title was UW-La Crosse, finishing with 33 points after securing the second, third, fourth, tenth and 14th place finishers. Securing the top spot on the individual results was junior Christian Patzka from UW-Whitewater.