Trojan Cross Country Ready for A.I.I. Conference
Daniel Crisler
In a sign that the seasons are a-changin’, the Dakota State men and women’s cross country team recently concluded their last regular season meet Saturday October 22, the Mount Marty Invitational, in Yankton.
The Dakota State men finished 4th out of 13 ranked teams at the invitational. In particular, Andy Coy was quite impressive, finishing 2nd overall out of 148 places, with a time of 25:41.31. Matt Fideler was close behind, finishing 4th overall with a time of 25:54.26. Landing third place honors among DSU men, and 12th place overall, was Michael Hoffman, who finished with a mark of 26:26.01. Nic Penning was the next closest runner, finishing 29th overall with a mark of 27:06.73. Rounding out the field for the men were John Bintliff (64th overall; 28:02.72), Jacob Cassutt (95th overall; 28:58.81), Kace Groff (97th; 29:06.01), Josh Scott (137th; 33:05.87), and Jim Wynia (145th; 34:05.46).
As a team, the Dakota State women finished 11th out 12 teams at the invitational. Leading the pack for the DSU women was Stephanie Warnke, who finished 29th overall out of 138 participants with a time of 19:38.15. Taking the silver medal among the DSU women was Claire Beck, who finished 103rd overall with a time of 22:07.14. The DSU women’s bronze medal goes to Summer Bronson, who finished 120th overall with a time of 23:16.78. Amber Wiebenga was right behind Bronson, finishing 121st overall while posting a mark of 23:19.30. Rounding out the DSU field were Nicole Jurrens (123rd; 23:23.19) and Sarah Schultz (130th; 24:36.24).
For their next meet on November 5th, the Dakota State team travels to the exotic location of San Marcos, California. With the regular season concluded, the DSU runners will participate in a conference meet termed the Association of Independent Institutions (A.I.I.) Meet.
Second place finisher Andy Coy stated,”We have been training all year for this, and we are definitely prepared for the A.I.I. Conference. We will have some tough competition with teams British Columbia and California St. San Marcos, but we believe on our best day we can compete with any team in the nation.”
