AFNORTH senior Logan Conrad raises his hands in triumph after winning the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Baumholder, Germany, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

BAUMHOLDER, Germany — Two new champions are heading home with muddy shoes — and 2025 DODEA-Europe cross country titles — after sloshing through the muck and rain on Saturday.

AFNORTH senior Logan Conrad won the boys event after finishing second last year, while Wiesbaden sophomore Linden Pickler — a newcomer from Kansas — topped the girls’ field.

The conditions on the Rolling Hills Golf Course were about as challenging as they could be. A steady rain pelted the more than 200 runners who had to navigate a 3.1-mile grass course slick throughout with wet mud.

It wasn’t a day for personal records, but for staying upright and getting to the finish line. Some runners fell, some more than once.

“I was wearing my spikes, but especially going around the corners, I was slipping so much,” said Conrad, who clocked 17 minutes, 27.3 seconds. “It was a rough day for everyone.”

The Stuttgart boys’ and girls’ teams overcame the conditions to sweep the Division I team competition and defend their 2024 titles.

After beating Ramstein in a tiebreaker last year, the Panthers won by a comfortable margin this time around, 24-56, over Ramstein. On the girls’ side, Wiesbaden was runner-up to Stuttgart, scoring 57 points to the Panthers’ 37.

“The course is not a fast course, but (with) the rain, the wind, the mud, the hills … definitely not on a day like today,” Stuttgart coach Lisa Welsh said. “But they all ran with really good effort, they ran together and pushed each other, and they raced to the places that they needed to.”

AFNORTH senior Logan Conrad held an early lead in the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships at Rolling Hills Golf Course in Baumholder, Germany, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. Stuttgart’s Ethan Cohen tried to keep pace with Conrad, eventually finishing second to Conrad, who won in 17 minutes, 27.03 seconds. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

About 120 runners race out of the start at the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships at Baumholder’s Rolling Hills Golf Course in Germany on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. Runners battled a slick, muddy course in the rain. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

Runners battled a slick, muddy course in the rain during the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships at Baumholder’s Rolling Hills Golf Course in Germany on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

Runners battled a slick, muddy course in the rain while spectators huddled under umbrellas at the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. The race as held at Baumholder’s Rolling Hills Golf Course in Germany. Nov. 1, 2025 (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

AFNORTH’s Logan Conrad approaches the finish chute with Stuttgart’s Ethan Cohen and Nathan Kaley in pursuit at the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025, in Baumholder, Germany. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

Few runners escaped without kicking up mud on their legs or uniforms at the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. The race was held in the rain on Baumholder’s Rolling Hills Golf Course in Germany. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

In the girls’ race, the anticipated showdown between Wiesbaden’s Pickler and SHAPE’s Cassandra Jarzabek never materialized.

Going into Europeans, Jarzabek and Pickler had posted eight of Europe’s 10-fastest times this fall. Jarzabek won the DODEA-Pacific crown as a sophomore at Humphreys in South Korea and set the region record last year. Pickler, meanwhile, took home the Kansas 6A individual state title as a freshman, before moving to Wiesbaden.

Early on, it looked like the race would come down to Pickler, Jarzabek and Lakenheath’s Molly Smith. The trio quickly distanced themselves from the rest of the pack. But about 1.8 miles into the race, Jarzabek had to pull out.

“The medics mentioned that I most likely experienced some overheating before the race and potentially had one of the earlier stages of hypothermia,” she said on Saturday. “I’m disappointed and sad about what happened today, but one race doesn’t define me.”

Pickler pulled away from Smith to finish in 20:24.55, while Smith, only a freshman, raced to a 20:38.50. Ramstein’s Caroline Swinson was third in 20:49.07.

“Man, it was really muddy,” Pickler said. “Even in my spikes, I was slipping and sliding.”

Pickler said she broke away towards the end of the first of two loops around the course, “and just held it for the second lap.”

“I’m super proud of my team,” she said. “We just gave it everything out there.”

Smith, who described Baumholder as the toughest course she raced this year, said she just tried to keep pace.

“The hills, the mud and rain, it was hard,” she said.

Conrad said his strategy was to go out fast and hang on to the lead.

“My kick is not great,” he said. “I know I need to have a lead to keep the lead.”

Stuttgart’s Ethan Cohen, who finished about four seconds behind Conrad, took the opposite approach. Last year as a sophomore, when he placed ninth, Cohen said he ran a personal record for the first mile trying to keep pace with a group that went out too fast. This time, he started from the back and methodically moved up.

“Second is a perfect spot for me,” he said, adding that Conrad “is in way better shape than me. I’ll come back next year and hopefully beat that time.”

Stuttgart had four boys in the top 10 and five girls in the top 11. Regan Stewart, Kendall Cancel and Pacha Miletich finished within 15 seconds of each other to lead the way for the Panthers.

In Division II, the Naples boys and the Vicenza girls grabbed the team titles. AFNORTH swept the Division III team standings.

Lakenheath’s Molly Smith, from left, SHAPE’s Cassandra Jarzabek and Wiesbaden’s Linden Pickler run as the lead trio early on at the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships in Baumholder, Germany, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. Pickler, a sophomore, won the 3.1-miles race on a muddy and slick Rolling Hills Golf Course in 20 minutes, 24.55 seconds. Smith, only a freshman, was second overall. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

Stuttgart’s Kendall Cancel, front, and Pacha Miletich run in a pack with AFNORTH’s Kerli Klesman, left, and Marice Caceres-Bricheno, and Vicenza’s Kelsie Torgesen at the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships in Baumholder, Germany, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. Stuttgart won the girls’ Division I title, while AFNORTH topped the Division III field. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

Wiesbaden’s Linden Pickler topped the girls’ field at the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships at Baumholder, Germany, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

Lakenheath’s Molly Smith, a freshman, runs at the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships at Baumholder, Germany, on Saturday, Nov. 1, 2025. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)

Ramstein’s Caroline Swinson approaches the finish line in third place at the 2025 DODEA European cross country championships in Baumholder, Germany, on Nov. 1, 2025. (Jennifer H. Svan/Stars and Stripes)