Cross country finishes second at NSIC Championship

The Augustana men’s and women’s cross country teams came away with second place rankings on Nov. 3 at the NSIC tournament.

Sixteen athletes earned spots in the All-NSIC team at the end of the tournament, which took place in Aberdeen, South Dakota.

The men ended with a 53 point total, after falling to the University of Sioux Falls. This tournament broke the Vikings’ nine-year conference winning streak.

The women ended with 54 points, falling to U-Mary, which sealed its third straight conference team title victory with 16 points in total.

The women were led by Mackenzie Kelly, finishing eighth with a time of 21.42.2. Nicolette Schmidt finished 10th with 21:50.3. Emily Tromp, finished 11th with a time of 21:58.3; Rebekah Rairdon, finishing 12th with a time of 21:59.8 and Courtney Hottovy, finishing 13th with a time of 22:01.8.

Sophomore Leah Seivert, who ended her race with a time of 22:07.9, said that despite not gaining a victory over U-Mary, the team did well and exhibited one of its greatest strengths.

“Our pack was really close together, I mean Augie girls were within close distance of each other the whole race,” Seivert said. “That’s been our strength this year, that we are running in a pack together and not relying on a couple front girls.”

Leading the men were Jesus Urtusuastegui, finishing 7th with a time of 24:36.0. Aaron Runge finished ninth with 24:38.9. Bonheur Mvuyekure, finishing 11th with a time of 24:42.2; Nathan Schroeder, finishing 12th with a time of 24:43  and Matt Steiger, finishing 14th with a time of 24:43.5.

Runge said that despite the loss, the team ran well and ultimately is putting more focus on its upcoming regional and national tournaments.

“We all PR’d; everyone ran the best race they had this season, so you can’t really complain too much about it,” he said. “It’s just kind of how the day went.”

Both teams will head to the NCAA Regional meet on Nov. 17 in Joplin, Missouri.