SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – The Southwest Minnesota State women’s and men’s cross country teams competed at the Herb Blakely Invite on Saturday hosted by Dordt University. The meet was scheduled to be hosted by Dakota State University in Madison, S.D., but was relocated to Sioux Center due to heavy rain this week in Madison.

Kayla Jansky led the Mustang women’s team for the second straight race placing sixth out of 64 runners in the 5K race with a time of 20:43.

Skyler Jacobson was the next highest finisher for the Mustangs in 22nd with a time of 21:34, with Avery Lester crossing the line in 29th place at 21:49, Emily Daniels in 34th at 22:07 and Abby Schotter recorded a 36th place time at 22:12 to round out SMSU’s team scoring.

SMSU’s Emily Gillingham placed 42nd at 22:46, while Meghan Sullivan finished 45th at 22:57.

In the men’s race, SMSU was paced by Clayton Hartle with a 25th place finish in the 8K race with a time of 28:42.

Logan Knudson ran 29:20 to finish in 29th, while teammates Ryan Russek finished 46th at 30:50, Camden Barta and Joey Fausel each placed 55th at 31:54, while Issac Fisher crossed the line at 35:18 to finish 62nd.

As a team, the SMSU women finished fourth out of seven teams with 97 points. Olivia Couch from Dordt University won the women’s race at 19:34.

The SMSU men’s team placed sixth out of seven with 141 points with Braden Curnow of Dakota State capturing the individual title at 25:47.

Dordt University won both the women’s (18 points) and men’s (28) overall titles.

The Southwest Minnesota State cross country teams next compete on Friday, Sept. 27, at the Wayne State Classic.

– Content courtesy

of SMSU Athletic

Communications