Freshman Leslie Stover and senior Ingrid Carlson round a corner at the Dordt meet.
It may be called the Dordt College Early Invitational, but the women’s Red Raider cross country team wasted no time finding success.
Northwestern finished in first place in the three-team meet, scoring 25; they were six points ahead of Dordt and 58 points ahead of Dakota Wesleyan. The meet was held on Aug. 28 in Sioux Center.
“I really enjoy this meet because it gives the team an opportunity to process what a college meet is like,” said head coach Dale Thompson. “Our women managed to run with a strong pack in spite of missing some key runners.”
Leading the Raiders was senior Ingrid Carlson who posted a time of 17:17 and finished third overall.
“Carlson did a good job keeping the pace rolling for the pack,” said Thompson. “If we can maintain that team spread, we will do well.”
Following Carlson was freshmen Leslie Stover, finishing at 17:18 and picking up fourth. In fifth overall was sophomore Teresa Scholten with a time of 17:37, followed directly by junior Sara Hess with 17:39. Rounding out the top ten was junior Breann Rozeboom in seventh with a time of 17:41 and freshman Corrine Muyskens in tenth posting 18:03.
The team time for the women was 87:32 with a total of 17 runners.
The NW men’s team finished third on the day, posting 55 points and falling to Dordt with 23 and Dakota Wesleyan with 50.
“The men held together for about half the race and then it was our freshmen running at the front,” said Thompson.
Freshman Sean Guthmiller led the Raider men, finishing 11th overall and crossing the line at 22:37. Not far behind him were freshmen Jesse Baldwin and Tyler Drenkow. Baldwin posted 22:39, finishing 12th and Drenkow finished 13th with 22:49. Senior Lee Stover finished 15th overall after running 23:00.
“It will take a few meets for the men to come together and we were missing some of the men as well,” said Thompson.
The men and women’s cross country teams will compete this weekend in the Sioux Falls Invite. The gun will sound at 10 a.m. on Sept. 12.