The Northwestern Men’s and Women’s cross country teams competed at the Mount Marty invitational Saturday, Oct. 22. The Raider men won the team title, their second team title in a row and the women finished third behind Dordt and Morningside.
Senior Will Norris led the way for the NW men’s team. He completed the 8K course in a school record time of 24:39, which was 11 seconds faster than the previous record set in 1981 by Dale Schoolmeester. This was also Norris’ second straight win and his third top 10 finish of the season.
Five NW men finished in the Top 10 and seven posted career best times. Junior Tanner Goetsch placed sixth with a time of 26:12. Junior Peter Smith ran a season best and placed seventh at 26:17, followed a second later by junior Ryan Bauermeister at 26:18, who placed eighth. Junior Tim Rose placed ninth with 26:20 to round out the Red Raider scorers.
Junior Austin Warren (27:23), sophomore Caleb Benzing (27:28), senior Luke Lorfeld (28:10) and junior Jeff Jeltema (28:51) all ran season best times.
Norris is happy with the team’s success, and attributes it to the attitudes and work ethic of the team.
“There has been a really positive shift in the team’s mentality by both the coaches and the athletes,” Norris said. “We set really high goals and everyone has bought in to the system.”
Two NW women finished in the Top 10, led by junior Katie Bosch with a fourth place finish, her best ever, at a time of 18:39. Freshman Breanna Harthoorn recorded her second top 10 finish of the season at ninth place with a time of 19:22.
Junior Sarah Lunn (19:43) placed 18th followed by sophomore Alicia Darling, with a season best of 20:29 and placed 33rd. Freshman Emma Van Meeteren ran a season best time (21:00) and finished 45th followed closely by junior Sam Sinclair (46th-21:03) and sophomore Allie Helmink (47th-21:09). Freshman Kelsey Lang (21:34) and Sophomor Moriah Lee (22:06) also turned in personal best times.NW will next compete Saturday, Nov. 5 at the GPAC Championships in Hastings, N.E.
