Women’s
Raegan Baesler once again represented the Bison on Friday morning, taking 12th place overall at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Peoria, Illinois.
Baesler now has the fifth-best finish ever for a Bison woman at the meet while clocking in with a personal best of 20:14.9 during the 6k. The only NDSU runners ahead of her in the D-1 regional meet are Erin Teschuk (1st in 2015 and 2nd in 2014) and Kelby Anderson (7th in 2019 and 9th in 2018). This makes her the fourth–fastest woman on the NDSU all-time cross-country list, and she will be receiving her first-ever All-Region honors in her career.
Freshman Jenna DeBates was the runner-up for the Bison, following Baesler, claiming her personal best of 21:28.3 in 97th place. To complete the scoring included senior Grace Link (104th in 21:34.2), junior Aleah Miller (130th in 21:56.4) and freshman Reagan Berg (146th in 22:14.1.).
NDSU got 18th place out of 36 schools, being the number two Summit League school. With a total of 230 runners, Oklahoma’s Leah Jeruto took home the individual title with a time of 19:42.87. Oklahoma State secured the team title at the meet (61), Minnesota took second (76), while Northwestern claimed third (103).
Men’s
The North Dakota State men’s cross-country team delivered an outstanding performance at Newman Golf Course on Friday, marking a historic day for the NDSU program and cementing this season as a standout one.
Senior Jake Arason led the team, setting a personal record of 30:23.0 for the 10-kilometer race and finishing 38th place out of 199 competitors, the highest-ever by an NDSU men’s runner at the Division I regional. Arason personally improved 66 places over his previous best regional finish.
Following Arason, seniors Hunter Klimek (62nd, 30:47.3) and Tyson Mahar (104th, 31:17.6), as well as Will Gerber (120th in 31:38.3) and Ethan Moe (128th in 31:52.0), rounded out the team scoring.
As a team, the Bison men placed 16th out of 32 teams, recording their best result since 2014 and tying for their third-best finish in the Division I era. This marks significant progress from their 22nd-place finish last year, climbing six spots in the rankings. Oklahoma State claimed the team title with just 25 points, while Iowa State secured the second automatic qualifying spot for the NCAA Championships with 43 points. Oklahoma State’s Denis Kipngetich took the individual title with a time of 28:51.46, as well as four out of the top 10 finishers representing Oklahoma State.