Cross Country: 3 Races Done and 2 to go!

Dan Crisler

While many students enjoyed a long and relaxing weekend, the DSU cross-country team was busy on Saturday participating in the Briar Cliff Invitational at McCook Lake, South Dakota.

As a team, the DSU women finished 12^th out of 14 ranked teams at the meet. Stephanie Warnke finished at her usual spot atop the DSU leaderboard with a 26^th place finish overall (out of 158 places) with a time of 19:11.56. The next closest DSU runner was Claire Beck, who finished 113^th with a time of 22:16.94. Finishing third among the DSU women, and 125^th overall, was Nicole Jurrens, who posted a time of 22:56.09. Rounding out the field for the DSU women were Amber Wiebenga (130^th; 23:09.35), Sara Schultz (135^th; 23:30.71), and Summer Bronson (146^th; 24:39.22).

As a team, the men fared better than the women, finishing 6^th out of 14 ranked teams. Matt Fideler finished an impressive 12^th place out of 153 places, with a time of 25:23.35. Coming in second among DSU men, and 31^st overall, was Nic Penning, who clocked in a time of 26:11.78. Michael Hoffman finished third among the men, and 40^th overall, with a time of 26:33.51. Rounding out the field for DSU were John Bintliff (59^th; 27:06.94), Kace Groff (89^th; 28:17.71), Jacob Cassutt (111^th; 29:03.43), and Jim Wynia (149^th; 34:01.03).

“Briar Cliff was a great meet for us, there was a lot of personal records made on both the women and men’s side. This past meet helped us see where we are at and where we need to be for conference. At conference we will be facing two top teams in the nation, British Columbia and St. Marcos.  There will be one more meet then off to our last meet of the season, conference in Saint Marcos California,” said senior cross runner John Bintliff.

The next cross-country meet will be the Graphic Edge Invitational hosted by Mount Marty College in Yankton on October 22.