Men's Results
Women's Results
BEMIDJI, Minn. – Competing in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Championships, the Northern State University men finished sixth behind a pair of top-20 finishes from Richard Keroack and John Rawerts, while the women’s squad claimed eighth in the team standings on the strength of sophomore Mikayla Barondeau’s 15th place individual finish.
All three runners garnered Second Team All-NSIC honors, their first career cross country all-conference accolades. First team honors are awarded to the top 10 finishers, while runners in places 11-20 are named to the second team.
Keroack led a Wolves squad that registered a pack time of one minute, 11 seconds amongst the top five finishers. The sophomore completed the 10K course in a time of 26:39.3, good for a 14th place finish. The race marked the first time this season that Keroack has been the top finisher for the men.
Rawerts, a junior who had been NSU’s top finisher in all four previous races this season, finished just 10 second back of Keroack, claiming 18th place with his time of 26:49.6. Junior Josh Schmeichel just missed a top-20 finish, finishing five second back of the 20th place runner. Schmeichel claimed 21st place with a time of 27:05.9.
Freshman Jacob Arechigo and sophomore Matt Peterson rounded out the scoring contingent with 41st and 51st place finishes, respectively. Arechigo clocked a time of 27:50.2 in his first full race back from injury, while Peterson registered a time of 28:32.7.
Freshman Jayce Seelig finished in 31:15.4 in his first career NSIC competition to claim 64th place.
The Augustana men claimed the team title with a total of 36 points. Minnesota State finished second in the team standings behind senior James Krasja’s first place individual finish. Krasja was named as the NSIC Men’s Runner of the Year for the second straight year following his title run.
The Wolves finished with 145 points to finish solidly in sixth place, more than 60 points ahead of seventh place University of Mary and just 20 points back of fifth place Minnesota-Duluth. NSU finished fifth at the 2008 conference meet.
The women’s squad had all five of its top five runners finish under the 25-minute mark, led by Barondeau. Competing in her first race of the season, the sophomore, also a key member of the Wolves’ women’s basketball team, finished the 6K course in 23:27.0, less than four seconds back of the 14th place finisher.
Freshman Krystal Hughes produced yet another strong performance with her 35th place finish. Hughes completed her first full race since pulling out of the Roy Griak Invitational with an injury two weeks ago. The freshman checked in at 24:06.7.
Juniors Toni Fritz and Kari Linneman finished in 42nd and 49th place, respectively, clocking times of 24:30.8 and 24:55.7 in the process. Freshman Jessica Brandli also squeezed in under the wire with a time of 25:00.0 to round out the NSU scoring with her 50th place finish.
Junior Andrea Sjomeling (25:10.9) was just behind in 53rd, while Brittany Olfert (25:51.6) finished 61st in her first career conference meet
Minnesota-Duluth sophomore Morgan Place claimed her second straight individual title and the NSIC Runner of the Year Plaque that went with it. The Bulldogs, however, were forced to settle for second place in the team standings as the Vikings of Augustana completed the sweep with their team score of 38 points.
NSU finished eighth in the team standings for the second straight year, narrowly edging Minnesota State Moorhead for that spot. The Wolves collected 191 points to MSUM’s 192. NSU was just eight points back of the seventh place Huskies of St. Cloud State.
Both the men’s and women’s teams will take next weekend off before returning to Wayne, Neb. to take part in the NCAA Central Regional Championships. That meet will feature all the teams from both the NSIC and the neighboring Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference and will determine the region’s team and individual qualifiers for the NCAA Division II National Championships.