Bulldog men's cross country closes out season in Missouri

Photo courtesy of Mariane Stuart

The men’s cross country team season has come to an end after placing 15th at the NCAA Division II Central Region Championships in Joplin, Missouri.

The meet was dominated by the hosting team, Missouri Southern State University, as they placed three runners in the top four. They also boasted the first place winner freshman Gidieon Kimutai who finished the 10k race in 29 minutes and 38 seconds.

The Bulldogs finished seventh out of the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference (NSIC) teams that participated, and out of the 185 runners, the Bulldogs had two finish in the top 35. Senior captain Luke Lahr lead the Bulldogs team finishing in 30th with his fellow captain Isaac Overmyer finishing right behind him at 31st. They finished with times of 31 minutes and 19 seconds, and 31 minutes and 20 seconds respectively.

The Bulldogs went into the meet as the 10th ranked team but found themselves at lower place than they would have liked. This is in part due to their runner Jake Kluver, who ran third for the team at the NSIC conference championship, was not able to finish the race due to his reaction to the warm weather conditions.

Last year the team went to the Division II National Championship for the first time in program history.

Despite the tough finish this year, it appears that the team has a strong foundation to build on for future seasons.

“Although it's difficult losing our top two runners, who are also our captains,” first year student and runner Cole Fechner said, “we have a strong group of guys who are all capable of major improvement.”

Fechner also said the team is now focused on training for the indoor track season.