The 2021 Cross Country season was one of the most exceptional in history for the Maroon and Gold. It saw the Gophers' women's program claim their third Big Ten Conference Championships titles, both individually and as a team, four 6K race times edging their way into the program's top-10 all-time list, the fourth NCAA Midwest Region team title in program history and most recently, the second-highest NCAA Championship finish in program history at seventh.
Of the many historic feats accomplished, however, there was one which stood above the rest. The top-three scoring Gophers at the 2021 NCAA Championships, Bethany Hasz, Megan Hasz and Abby Kohut-Jackson, all earned All-American honors, becoming the first threesome of female student-athletes to do so in a single season in program history and consequently decimating the program's record books in the process.
GOING ALL OUT FOR ALL AMERICAN
After earning the same distinction at the 2020 NCAA Championships only months prior, Bethany claimed the highest Gopher finish of the meet once again, landing seventh at the meet and tying Megan Duwell for the highest individual finish in program history. For the remainder of the trio, however, the All-American honors marked the first of their careers.
For Megan, the honor was something she's been chasing for years. She managed to break into the top-100 in her second season rocking the Maroon and Gold, but had missed in each year since due various issues such as injuries. Finally hitting that mark, and doing so in a spot as high as 23rd, was something she'll always remember.
"It meant a lot," said Megan. "In my opinion, I've arguably always underperformed at nationals besides last season when I was hurt, so it was great just going out there being able to be in that place for my team and myself. Especially coming down the home stretch, it was really exciting. I heard people around me saying that we were around 30ish, and I wasn't really sure if I was going by people or if they were going by me at that point. If you'd have asked me post-race, I would have guessed I was around 30-35, so hearing that I was 23rd was really exciting. It wasn't quite everything I wanted, but it was a great result for the day. Seeing Bethany had finished ahead of me, and then turning and seeing Abby finishing just behind me, it was all just really exciting."
Kohut-Jackson, who earned the honor with a 39th place finish, has come exasperatingly close to the distinction once before, as she finished just five spots below the mark at the 2020 national championships in 45th. To the Huxley, Iowa native, finally reaching that mark has been a huge goal of hers from the start.
"I definitely was chasing that down this year, and I think it was the same for all three of us," Kohut-Jackson said. "Given our team goals, we felt like we would need to have three or four All-Americans, but it was just really exciting to be able to sneak in there and be one of the ones to make it. It would have been tough to finish right outside of that again, so it was a lot more exciting knowing I was just on the edge last year and finally got it this year."
The only one of the threesome to have done so in year's past, Bethany fell right back into her position from a season ago, improving her career best finish to seventh in dominating fashion. The difference from this meet and a year ago, however, was she now got to share the distinction with both her sister and great friend.
"It was really special," Bethany said. "I was really just hoping to improve on what I did last year, and having Megan and Abby make such big jumps from where they were last year was really exciting. I remember that right after the race, Abby was sure that she hadn't made the top-40, so she was kind of disappointed. Then just a little while later, we found out that she got 39th, so we were all pretty excited."
With a historically fast field of competition, all three of the student-athletes needed to post historically fast times to even hint at All-American status, and that's exactly what they did, with all three of their times ranking among the top-four 6K times in Gophers program history. Bethany Hasz
Bethany absolutely blazed past the Gophers' previous mark with her final time of 19:36.4, blowing away the previous record held by Stephanie Price at 19:55.5 by just under 20 seconds. Megan was close behind, putting up a final time of 19:48.9 and beating Price's mark by more than six seconds, while Kohut-Jackson fell just behind into fourth all-time, coming in at 19:56.8.
"I think it took a combination of everything for us to go as fast as we did," said Bethany. "We're all either at or as close to the fittest we've ever been, and then finally getting on a course that was pretty flat and dry. Every course we've run on this season has been either snowing and hills or wet and muddy, and they weren't really conducive to running fast, so just getting on a course like that was a big difference."
Although she knew crossing the line that she had gone faster than any Gopher before her, it wasn't until well after the race that Bethany finally realized how fast she had truly run.
"I knew that I was under the record," said Bethany, "but I wasn't sure exactly where I was at. It's hard to tell as you're running since you can't really see the clock as you cross the line. When I saw the actual time, I was definitely surprised at how fast I actually ran. It was really exciting, and I was just really happy both for myself and the team as a whole. I know some people were disappointed in their days, but I think the team overall had a solid day. Megan, Abby and I ending up as All-Americans was really exciting and special to do together."
LOOKING BACK ON THE FINAL SEASON
Impressive as the All-American performances may have been, it still does not rank as the best memory of the season for any of the trio. Rather, that belongs to another championship they competed in, and frankly dominated, three weeks prior, the 2021 Big Ten Cross Country Championships.
There, largely thanks to All-Big Ten team performances from the three All-Americans, the Gophers managed to capture their third Big Ten team title in program history, which had been a goal for all three since their first season at Minnesota in 2016.
"I think winning the Big Ten title was the standout for most of us," said Bethany. "We've taken second a couple times in the past few years, so winning the title was huge for us. Our program hasn't done it very many times, so I think that was the goal we were most excited about hitting."
"Winning the Big Ten title as a team was huge," said Kohut-Jackson. "That was something we were really hoping for and a really big goal that we accomplished." Megan Hasz
Exciting as the team title may have been, it was only half of the success that the team saw, as Megan also walked away with an individual title of her own. It took a battle down the stretch between her and runner-up finisher, Michigan's Ericka Vanderlende, with Megan pulling ahead with just under 100 meters to go to secure the Gopher's third ever individual title. Anyone to ask her about it, however, would instantly know which of the two held the most importance to her.
"I would say the team title meant more than the individual one," said Megan. "It's a hard question to answer, but that day it was all about the team. The individual title was a wonderful little cherry on top, but going into the day it was all about the team. That's what Big Tens is. Individual things are great, but I feel like at conference championships, so much of it comes back to the team and how you do together."
With the individual crown, Megan became the third individual conference champion in program history, joining 1987 winner Eileen Donaghy and the team's last champion, Bethany, who claimed the top spot at the 2020-21 conference meet this past March. At this season's championships, Bethany earned a top-10 spot for the fourth straight season, coming in ninth overall and third on the team behind both her sister and seventh place finisher Kohut-Jackson.
"I was really happy for her, especially on that last K," said Bethany. "Personally, I was kind of having a rough day, but I could see her at the front. I was kind of going back and forth between feeling a little bad for myself on where I was at, but also looking up at where she was and getting excited for her. When I saw her in the top group, I knew she had a chance to win. I was just super excited and happy for her."
COMING BACK FOR ONE LAST DANCE
Between the Big Ten titles, the All-American honors, the NCAA Regional Championship crown and everything in between, none of it could have been possible without each of the women making the decision to utilize their free year of eligibility due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The trio were just coming off of the best finish in program history at the 2020-21 NCAA Championships, which saw four Gophers finish among the top-100 for Minnesota to finish fifth overall, four spots higher than they'd ever done before. Bethany had just claimed her first All-American nod, as well as the individual Big Ten crown and Big Ten Cross Country Athlete of the Year honors, Abby had just jumped 65 spots from her previous best NCAA finish to claim 45th overall and the 2021 track and field seasons had resulted in an indoor Big Ten championship title.
So why did they all choose to return for one last dance? The answer is simpler than one might expect; they all knew there was still more work to be done. Abby Kohut-Jackson
"Well, we needed a good amount of us to come back for either our fifth or sixth years," said Kohut-Jackson, "and I think all of us felt like we could be a part of that team success, and knew it was important to set the stage for the next generation of Gophers. So, between all of our individual goals in track and cross country and just knowing what we had coming out of last March, it was really hard to turn away from that. We all had to come back and do this together, we couldn't just have two people come back to accomplish this."
"It wasn't too hard a decision for me personally," said Megan. "Running is ultimately what I want to do, and obviously after being hurt the last couple of years, they haven't ended the way I want them to. Having that extra year was really just a great opportunity for me to keep training and getting my education, and luckily I was able to stretch out my master's program a little bit to be able to come back."
Even only a third of the way through their final season donning the Maroon and Gold, it's hard to argue they made the wrong choice.
THE JOB ISN'T FINISHED
With the exceptional cross country season under their belts, there are still plenty of trials ahead of them as they kick off their final track and field season this Friday, Dec. 3 at the University of Arkansas' Wooo Pig Classic in Fayetteville, Ark.
Ranging from marks as large as winning another Big Ten title and competing for a team title at Nationals, to simply setting personal records and improving their best, the trio's goals for the season are as high as they've ever been.
"We always go to the Big Ten titles first," said Kohut-Jackson, "so I think those are our big goals. This year especially, I think we're hoping to have a really strong presence at the national meets too. I think we really have a shot to actually place as a team pretty high up there at both indoor and outdoor nationals, so those are the big team goals."
"Individually, I would love to PR in some things," said Megan. "I finally PR'd in the 6K this season after not doing so since my sophomore year, so I think to follow that up with some more in track would be a lot of fun. I know the team is shooting for the triple crown as well, which is winning Big Tens in cross, indoor and outdoor, which would be so cool. Especially in the track environment, where there are so many people working towards the same goal in so many different events. It would really be awesome to see all that work pay off."
