North Dakota State cross country started the season off strong last Friday, with both teams dominating. The team took home the individual and team title at Marauders Invite in Bismark, North Dakota.
Women’s Cross Country
NDSU placed first out of four teams and scored 25 points on Friday afternoon at McDowell Dam Recreation Area, averaging 21:24.
The other competing teams at the event were U-Mary (35), Minot State (80), and Bismark State (116).
The Bison Women returned their top four finishers from the Summit League Championships last season: senior Grace Link, senior Reagan Baesler, sophomore Logan Harz, and junior Aleah Miller. The team also welcomes ten new freshmen this season.
North Dakota State’s Reagan Baesler took first for the women in the six-kilometer race, clocking in at 20:51.2 and beating the runner-up by 19 seconds. Baesler’s time from Friday ranks 16th on the NDSU all-time 6k list in cross country. Senior Grace Link came in at fourth place with a time of 21:16.7, while freshman Mia Hoffman placed fifth out of 58 in 21:17.2 for the Bison. Madison LeSage placed seventh in 21:48.8, and Kate LeBlanc crossed the finish line at eighth in 21:51.2. This was Hoffmans and LeSage’s collegiate debut. The Bison women received seven out of the top ten places and 11 out of the top 15 during their season’s first meet.
Men’s Cross Country
The men matched the same energy as the women in Bismark, taking over the race with a perfect team score of 15.
The runners-up at the meet were U-Mary (54), Minot State (82), Bismark State (100), Nueta Hidatsa Sahnish (164), and Trinity Bible College (171).
Five of their six top runners from last season returned this year, with seniors Zach Johnson, Symon Keiser, Hunter Klimek, Jake Arason, and Tyson Mahar
The first ten runners to finish the eight-kilometer race had a Bison on their jersey. Klimek was the individual champion with a time of 24:34.74, and Keiser came in at a close second at 24:38.79. Redshirt freshman Ethan Moe placed third in 24:45, Ivan Askim placed fourth in 24:54, and Jacob Knodle was just a step behind and completed the team scoring in fifth place at 24:55.
Will Gerber (25:00), Regan Bosch (25:10), Carl Rekow (25:13), Tyson Mahar (25:14), and Demetrius Farmakis (25:25) completed the top ten spots for NDSU in the race out of 62 competitors.
Klimek’s time from last week earns him the 15th fastest cross-country 8k performance in NDSU’s Division I era. Keiser ranks 17th on that list.
The Bison will compete next on Friday, Sept. 20th, at the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by Minnesota.