Cross Country teams excel at Independent Championship

Brian Kimmes

Brian Kimmes

The South Dakota State Cross Country Team performed well at the Division I Independent Championship. The men’s team won the event, and the women’s team took second place, missing the championship by one point. The Lady Jacks were 17 points higher than the third place team.

The individual winners of the championship were both from SDSU. Brad Lowery won the men’s five-mile race with a time of 24 minutes, 54.81 seconds. Becka Mansheim won the women’s three-mile race with a time of 17 minutes, 7.44 seconds.

Contributing to the men’s victory were sixth place finisher Richard Furseth, 11th place runner Jared Bienlien, 18th place finisher Chris Gruenhagen and 21st place runner Andrew Van Nurden.

The women had two other runners finish in the top 10, second place finisher Katie Tornberg and 8th place runner Krystie Ratzlaff. Rounding out the women runners were 13th place runner Kari Schaefer and 22nd place runner Ashley Adams.

Head Coach Rod DeHaven was named Men’s Independent Cross Country Coach of the Year.