Flames second at Briar Cliff invite
NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. – A long stretch of racing for the College of Saint Mary cross country team ended Saturday with a runner-up team performance.
The Flames placed second in the six-team Briar Cliff Invitational, finishing with 54 team points to trail only champion Concordia (33). Next in the team standings were Northwestern and Morningside with 82, Hastings with 102 and Peru State with 190.
"Overall, we had a pretty good day of racing,'' CSM Coach Derek Fey said. "Finishing second in that field was a solid performance. This was our fifth week in a row racing and it's time to rest and take some time off.''
Saturday's race covered 6,000 meters, or about 3.73 miles, and it was the first time the CSM had freshmen had run that distance.
"They all looked strong,'' Fey said.
Freshman Kara Muller placed fourth in 23:28.00, while freshman Carly Henderson finished eighth in 23:55.99. Completing the scoring were Corinne Mead, 11th in 24:17.35; Brooke Wigdahl, 19th in 24:47.27; and Mira Fosmer, 32nd in 25:23.58.
"Kara and Carly finishing in the top 10 was impressive and Corinne was just one spot off a top 10 finish,'' Fey said.
The rest of the CSM competitors were Autumn Simons (34th in 25:29.98), Becka Karnik (37th in 25:37.34), Josie Karnik (38th in 25:38.06), Natalie Briggs (42nd in 25:54.50), Peyton Bell (54th in 26:45.82), Kaitlyn Thalman (55th in 26:49.51) and Kiley Craft (62nd in 27:32.45).
The Flames, who were just outside the national Top 25 in the most recent set of rankings, return to action on Oct. 26 in Ashland, Neb., at the Blazing Tiger event.