NDSU women capture Summit cross-country title

Bison men finish second to South Dakota State

The North Dakota State University women’s cross-country team captured Summit League gold on Saturday when they ran away from the rest of the league while winning their first Summit League team title since 2019.

            Competing on a course set up at the Ray Richards Golf Course in Grand Forks, N.D., the Bison dominated the rest of the league with a score of 38 points, 30 more than the runner-up school, South Dakota State. The host school, the University of North Dakota, finished third with 100 points.

            The Bison placed four runners in the top 10. Sophomore Grace Link led the Bison with a career-best time for the six-kilometer course, taking second place overall in 20:12.0. Right behind Link was Kaleesa Houston, who finished third with another personal-best of 20:13.5. Link and Houston now sit in fourth and fifth places, respectively, on NDSU’s all-time fastest 6k cross country times.

NDSU’s Grace Link crosses the finish line at the 2022 Summit League Championships in Grand Forks, N.D., on Saturday. Link finished in second place with a time of 20.12.0. Link’s teammate, Kaleesa Houston is right behind Link and finished third. The NDSU women won the Summit League title, their first since 2019. Photo Credit | Connor Senkyr / The Summit League

            It was a total and dominant team effort by the Bison women who placed five more runners among the top 20. Sophomores Allie Wahlund (20:48.2) and Reagan Baesler (20:49.9) took 9th and 10th, respectively. Erin Valgardson finished 14th, Kelby Rinas was 17th, and Alexis Roehl came in 19th.

            The top seven runners for the Bison finished with their personal Summit League bests in Grand Forks.

            Link and Houston earned All-Summit League first-team honors by virtue of their top-seven finishes, and both came in under the previous meet record time. Wahlund, Baesler and Valgardson were named second-team honorees for being in the top 14.

Bison men finish second to South Dakota State –

            The North Dakota State men’s cross-country team claimed runner-up honors at the Summit League Championships held Saturday at Ray Richards Golf Course.

South Dakota State won its seventh straight Summit League men’s team title with 18 points. The Bison finished with a score of 64 for second place while St. Thomas took third in the team standings with 78.

Junior Hunter Klimek was the top finisher for NDSU, taking ninth place overall in 23:29.0 for the 8k course. Jake Arason placed 11th in 23:26.7, Symon Keiser finished 13th in 23:39.9, and Hunter McHenry was 14th in 23:45.9. Tyson Mahar completed the team scoring for the Bison in 24:01.3 for 18th place.

McHenry was named the Summit League Newcomer of the Championship as the top-finishing true freshman.

Outdoing the women, all nine Bison men who entered the meet recorded career-best times for the 8k.

Klimek, Arason, Keiser and McHenry each earned All-Summit League second-team honors by virtue of their top-14 finishes.

The Bison men have now finished second at five of the last six Summit League Cross Country Championships.

Next up

            Both the men’s and women’s teams will compete next at the NCAA Midwest Regional in Columbia, Mo., on November 11th, 2022.

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