With the 2020 spring sports season canceled due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, GoDrakeBulldogs.com revisits some of the tremendous accomplishments of past Drake University teams that have won conference titles. Presented by MidAmerican Energy.
Drake won its 11th and most recent Missouri Valley Conference men's cross country champion in 1999 as a veteran-laden team won the title by 27 points in head coach Dan Hostager's first year at the helm of the program.
Led by one-two finish from individual champion Jason Lehmkuhle and teammate Matt Gabrielson, the Bulldogs cruised to the title in Wichita, Kan., Oct. 30, 1999. Lehmkuhle finished the 8-kilometer course in 24:29 followed by Gabrielson in 24:41. Zac Schendel also earned a top-five finish and all-conference honors with a fourth-place finish in 24:52, just three seconds away from the Bulldogs' sweeping the top three spots by the three seniors.
Troy Trygstad just missed All-MVC honors by finishing 15th while Caleb Richter, a freshman, completed the scoring in 29th. Teammate John Crimmings, a sophomore, was just behind him in 30th while Jason Abbott finished 41st.
Drake finished with 51 points in the team standings, followed by Illinois State with 78 and Indiana State with 80.
Earlier in the season, the Bulldogs finished fifth at the NCAA Midwest Regional to just miss qualifying for the NCAA Championships, but Lehmkuhle advanced as an individual with a second-place finish. He would go to finish 46th at the NCAA Championship.
The Bulldogs were ranked as high as second in the Midwest region throughout the year and finished 23rd at the NCAA Pre-National Meet behind a 19th-place showing from Lehmkuhle.
