Zach Anderson

At the University of North Dakota Invitational the SDSU men’s cross country team beat the University of North Dakota and the University of North Florida in the double dual format race. SDSU’s Anthony Bongard was selected as the individual champion when he finished in a time of 25 minutes 46.28 seconds on Sept. 5.

“Anthony looked really strong, particularly the second half of the race,” SDSU coach Rod DeHaven said. “It’s a testament to his hard work over the summer.”

Four Jackrabbits crossed the finish line behind Bongard as the Jacks claimed the top five spots in the dual, beating UND 15-46. Against UNF, the Jacks had five runners score in the top six places, defeating UNF 17-42.

Greg Vollmer earned second in a time of 25:55.47, followed by Michael Krsnak in third with a time of 26:11.81.

DeHaven said that his team tried to hold back at the start of the race and go hard the last part. The strategy paid off in the Jacks’ win.

The women’s cross country team also swept UND and UNF in the dual. SDSU defeated UND 24-33 and UNF 23-32. Ashley Storm scored a second-place finish in a time of 18:43.51 on Sept. 5.

“We again went out fairly conservative and went hard at the end,” DeHaven said. “We got big performances from the folks we thought we would.”

Danielle Burke came in fourth for the Jacks in 18:49.81 followed by teammate Nicole Davis in fifth at 18:50.33.

Both the SDSU men’s and women’s cross country teams got the season off on the right track in their respective victories.

DeHaven said getting the wins was nice to start the season. “It helps the confidence of our runners,” he said. He thinks the Jacks will get a more realistic picture of where they are when they take on the University of Minnesota, NDSU and Drake at the Oz Memorial on Sept. 11 in Falcon Heights, Minn.