South Dakota State men finished in third and the women placed second as freshman Carson Noecker and Leah (Hansen) Hisken earn the TicketSmarter Summit League Cross Country Peak Performers of the Week for the second time in a row.
Noecker finished first with a time of 24:28.4 In the men’s 8k, his first time ever competing in the event collegiately. Noecker’s teammate Josh Becker finished behind him at 24:39.7 for second place.
“If it’s on the schedule, we are going to compete hard,” head coach Rod DeHaven said. “I think on the men’s side we did that.”
South Dakota State had six other athletes competing in the men’s 8k. Jackson Dutcher, a freshman out of Caper, WY, placed 12th in the event with a time of 25:10.7, with Cody Larson and Will Lohr both placing in the top-20 as well. Larson placed 17th at 25:17.2 while Lohr ran a 25:18.1 for 19th in his first 8k race for the Jacks.
Christian Noble, Cashton Johnson and Luke Johnson all were first 8k runners as well with Noble placing at 29th, Cashton Johnson at 33rd and Luke Johnson at 42nd.
South Dakota State won the 8k in the men’s division with a total of 51 points while the University of North Dakota finished hot on their trail with 52 points and North Dakota State with 56 points for third.
Augustana, Northern State and South Dakota all competed in the race along with some SDSU alumni and unattached runners from NDSU.
“We got a lot of work left to do, but at least for the young men it is something they can hang their hats on in terms of ‘yeah, we can possibly do this,” DeHaven said.
With no surprise, Hisken took first in the women’s 5k while five other Rabbit runners place in the top-20.
Hisken finished her 5k with the time of 17:46.3 for gold while Mya Kizer finished eighth at 18:14.3.
Finishing in the 11th spot was Jessica Lutmer getting a 18:23.2, a personal best for the Pierre, S.D. native. Claire Beckman clocked in a 18:34.8 to take 13th with Caitlin Bright running a 18:38.6 for 16th.
Grace Waage rounded out the top-20 runners for the Rabbits as she finished in 19th place at 18:42.4.
Running a personal record time of 18:47.5 was Sierra Watterud who finished 23rd overall with two other athletes in the top-40, Emma Gonzalez and Jenna Soine, running a 19:35.5 and a 19:39.2 respectively.
South Dakota State Univeristy had five other runners competing in the 5k with Nina Dawson at 46th, Kadense Dooley at 47th, Emma Ecker in 48th, Hannah Neusch at 61st and Hannah Spoden in 64th.
Though having six athletes in the top-20, SDSU took silver in the team standings with 46 points behind border state rival North Dakota State who scored 41 total points. USD took bronze with 61 points with UND taking fourth with 112.
The South Dakota State Jackrabbits have a rest week before continuing their season at the Roy Griak Invitational Sept. 22, hosted by the University of Minnesota Gophers at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul, MN.
– Jordan Raddatz, GoJacks.com
