/usr/web/www.marshallindependent.com/wp-content/themes/coreV2/single.php
×

SMSU CROSS COUNTRY: Aidrus earns All-NSIC honors to lead SMSU men, Mustang women finish 12th at NSIC Championships

MOORHEAD – The Southwest Minnesota State University men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the NSIC Championships on Saturday. The men finished ninth as a team while the women finished 12th.

MEN

MOORHEAD – The Southwest Minnesota State men’s cross country recorded a ninth place finish with 259 points at the 12-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships held at the Moorhead Soccer Complex on Saturday afternoon.

Bashir Aidrus led the Mustangs with an outstanding sixth place finish in the 111-runner field with a time of 24:55 to earn first team All-NSIC honors. It’s the highest finish ever for a Mustang runner at the NSIC Championships at the Division II level and the first to earn All-NSIC accolades since SMSU reinstated the program in 2012. He is the first Mustang men’s runner to record all-conference honors since 1990.

SMSU cross country coach Dan Allen said he was proud of the way Bashir stayed the course throughout the race and finished strong.

“With Bashir, our goal for him was to get All-Conference. Last season, he was a middle of the pack type of runner, and he’s better than that. Early on in the season we were hoping for a Top 35-40 finish from him and he was 35th at the 2,000-meter mark and 18th at the 4,000-meter mark,” Allen said. “At the last lap, he was 15 seconds from third place. I told him that and he went crazy and took off past 10 people. He had a great finish and it was great for his confidence as a runner.”

Logan Knutson was the second SMSU runner to cross the finish line with a time of 27:13 to finish in 73rd place. Clayton Hartle finished 77th with a time of 27:23, Ben Broze was 80th with at 27:30, Joe Bustrak recorded a time of 27:50 for 86th, while Evan Bonneson ran 28:33 to finish in 92nd place.

Allen said on the men’s side, they’re a young team who gained some experience against the older conference teams.

“We’re young; for us, Bashir puts less pressure on our underclassmen,” Allen said. “We ran well, but showed that we’re young in a conference that’s dominated by seniors and juniors.”

Mason Phillips from the University of Sioux Falls won the 8,000-meter race with a time of 24:06. Augustana captured the team championship for the ninth straight season with 36 points followed by second place Minnesota Duluth with 98 points.

Southwest Minnesota State will next compete on Nov. 4 at the NCAA Central Region Championships in Kearney, Nebraska.

WOMEN

MOORHEAD – The Southwest Minnesota State women’s cross country recorded 349 points to earn a 12th place finish at the 15-team Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships held on Saturday at the Moorhead Soccer Complex.

Alexis Zeis from the University of Mary won the 6,000-meter race with a time of 20:49. It was her second career NSIC individual championship (2015). U-Mary captured the team championship with 30 points with Minnesota Duluth placing second with 74 points.

Kayla Jansky was the highest finisher for the Mustangs placing 60th in the 137-runner field with a time of 23:41. Emily Daniels was the second SMSU runner to cross the finish line with a time of 24:16 to finish in 79th place. Emily Gillingham finished 100th with a time of 25:06, Abby Schotter was 105th with a time of 25:20, Kristin Weber recorded a time of 25:46 for 112th, with Meghan Sullivan finishing in 115th with a time of 25:51. Avery Lester placed 124th with a time of 27:07, while Kaedyn Chamberlain ran 29:07 to finish 132nd.

Allen said on the women’s side, they didn’t get the result they wanted and just started too quickly but learned how to deal with adversity in a big conference race.

“Our result wasn’t what we wanted, as we were hoping to finish in the Top 8. We started out too fast and then faded after that,” Allen said. “We’re young on this side also, and it was a learning experience for our team to be able to handle adversity and we learned a lot.”

Southwest Minnesota State will next compete on Nov. 4 at the NCAA Central Region Championships in Kearney, Nebraska.

Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications

Newsletter

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *
   

Starting at $4.38/week.

Subscribe Today