The Northwestern cross country teams traveled to Crete, Neb. to compete in the Dean White Invite on Saturday morning.
Both the men’s and women’s teams finished in second place. The women scored 52 points and the men tallied 44 points. Doane College took the top spots in both the men’s and women’s races.
“Doing as well as we did, it is encouraging to know there was still room for improvement,” said head coach Scott Bahrke.
Leading the way for the women’s team was senior Amy Van Skike, who finished seventh overall with a time of 19 minutes 58 seconds She was followed by sophomore Amber Sandbulte, who placed ninth with a time of 20:08.
Another top finisher for the women was senior Leslie Stover, who finished 11th with a time of 20:14. Right behind Stover was junior Dawn Gildersleeve, who finished the 5K in 12th place with a time of 20:15.
For the men’s side, sophomore Skylar Giddings led the way for the Raiders in fourth place with a personal best time of 26:56. Sophomore Logan Hovland crossed the finish line with a time of 27:23 and took the eighth spot.
Other notable finishers in 19th and 20th place for the Raiders were senior captain Andrew Lichter and junior Taylor Bodin, who with finished with times of 28:15 and 28:17, respectively.
“It was encouraging to see the team run some of their best times on a tough course,” Bahrke said. “Now we just want to get the second group to push their pace and have the confidence to be up near the leaders.”
The team’s next meet will be held on Oct. 6 McCook Lake, S.D., for the Briar Cliff Invite.
