CANYON, TEXAS --- The South Dakota School of Mines men's cross country team finished 16^th and the women took 23^rd during the NCAA South Central Region Cross Country Meet Saturday morning in Canyon, Texas.

The men netted 424 points to secure the 16^th spot. Colorado School of Mines won the event with 41 points, Western Colorado was second with 69 and Adams State was a point back in third place with 70 points. West Texas A&M, the host school, took fourth place with 127 and UCCS rounded out the Top 5 with 144.

Ezekiel Kipchirchir of West Texas A&M was the men's 10K champion, finishing in a time of 30 minutes, 39.05 seconds while Western Colorado's Charlie Sweeney was two seconds back in the runner-up position clocking a 30:42.19.

The Hardorckers were paced by Joel Haas, who took 57^th in a time of 33:209.02. Teammate Anders Watt was 81^st place after clocking a 34:04.77. Tim Dunham grabbed 94^th place (34:22.82), Ryan Moen was three spots back in 97^th place (34:25.43), followed by Andrew Ferris in 99^th place (34:26.78), Jacob Huber took 125^th place (35:15.87) and Chase Wood posted a 35:38.11 for 137^th place.

The men's 10K had 184 competitors.

On the women's side, Adams State won team championship with 24 points, followed by Colorado School of Mines in second (51), Western Colorado was third (69), UCCS secured fourth (122) and Colorado Christian was a distant fifth with 211.
Adams State's Stephanie Cotter won the individual 6K race in a time of 20:53.50 while teammate Eilish Flanagan grabbed second in a time of 21:01.75.

Adeline Wilson was the top Hardrockers, crossing the finish line in a time of 24:31.15 for 93^rd place, followed by Kayla Gagen in 93^rd place in a time of 24:32.24. Alyssas Franke finished in 111^th place (24:47.77), Taylor Bright crossed in 151^st place (25:42.82), Nadia Kaczmarz was 166^th (26:14.89), Margaret Thompson came in 183^rd (27:34.20) and Kelby Wilson posted a 28:59.55 for 192^nd place.

 The women's 6K race had 194 competitors.

"It was a very up and down day for us," said Hardrocker cross country head coach Steve Johnson. "On the men's side Joel Haas ran a great race and moved up every lap. We were even closer to some of the RMAC teams than we were at the conference championship and beat CSU-Pueblo for the first time since 2014. The women turned in a solid performance and finally got the outright win over Chadron State that they've been chasing all season. Kayla (Gagen) had the best Region finish she's ever recorded so it was great to see her finish her senior season on a high note. Alyssa and Nadia also turned in some of their best work of the year."