Lusignan’s fourth place paces men to top-10 finish, women follow Anderson twins to 17th

After a full two weeks off from the last meet on Sept. 11, the Jackrabbit cross country team went back to Falcon Heights, Minn., for the Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota. 

The men’s squad finished in eighth place out of the 23 teams that attended. The top runner for the Jacks was senior Trent Lusignan, who finished in fourth place. 

“It was a pretty good run for us; we weren’t really projected to be there. All in all it was a pretty good effort,” said SDSU Head Coach Rod DeHaven. 

With an attendance of over 20,000, the stage didn’t seem too big for the men. Coach DeHaven said “absolutely” when asked whether he felt his team was excited for the overall atmosphere that showed up to watch the event. 

“They understand how big it is,” DeHaven said.  

The other top finishers for the Jacks were Joel Reichow (39th), Trevor Capra (43rd) and Brendan Sage (60th) who all finished in the top 60. Cal Lawton (111th), Kyle Burdick (117th) and Austin Hamm (134th) rounded out the Jacks’ top seven runners for the meet. 

The women’s team didn’t fare as well as the men but were up against some tough weather conditions that resulted in a temperature around the low 80s throughout the race. The women finished 17th in meet, with the top runner being Kristen Anderson, finishing in 77th place.

Coach DeHaven said the big stage might have had an effect on the performance.

 “A little bit, it was tough out there with the weather but for those kids coming straight from high school, it’s different,” DeHaven said. 

Other finishers for the women’s team were Samantha Anderson (79th), Emily Donnay (98th), Halie Mechels (119th), Emily Berzonsky (158th), Marisa Shady (212th), Krista Steele (234th) and Rachel Eickhoff (236th).

Coach DeHaven seemed very optimistic about the next meet for the women. 

“I feel we will do better than that. We will have more opportunities to help us get ready for the Summit League Championships at the end of October, which is our ultimate goal,” DeHaven said.  

The next meet for the Jacks will be the first-ever SDSU Classic held at Edgebrook Golf Course on Oct. 3rd. Looking to perform well in their home environment, the Jacks feel they should have a upper-hand by knowing the course. 

“We get to match up against teams that we want to match up with. We will get to face teams like NDSU and USD and will get to see where we are at,” DeHaven said.