The men’s cross country team posted an eighth place finish (out of 11) at the MIAC Championships, which were held at the Como Park Golf Course in St. Paul on Saturday afternoon. The team, which tallied a score of 207, was led by Nick Ross who finished 32nd in a time of 27:20. Hamline won the team title with a score of 61.
Ross led a tightly grouped top seven for the Gusties. Following Ross across the finish line were John Kennedy (35th place, 27:29), Max Hanson (37th place, 27:30), Mark Hartman (48th place, 27:52), Carson Smith (55th place, 28:07), Jeremy Kuhn (57th place, 28:11), and Alex Thornton (60th place, 28:18).
Coach Dale Bahr felt that the team performed well despite racing without one of its top runners. He stated, “The men went out strong, but were unable to hold their early position.” Bahr added, “We were missing our #2 runner Anders Bowman because of illness, which played a big factor in our 8th place finish. There were a few guys that stepped up and had very good races to try to fill the void. All in all, we ran very well, we just did not have the front runners, that a team needs to be in the top five.”
The Gusties will compete in the Fall Finale at Saint John’s on Friday, Nov. 6 and then take part in the NCAA Central Regional on Saturday, Nov. 14 in Grinnell, Iowa.