RAPID CITY, S.D. --- After a successful fall camp, the South Dakota School of Mines men's and women's cross country team begin the 2019 season on Saturday, hosting the Hardrocker XC Classic at Robbinsdale Park in Rapid City.
 
The Hardrockers will open the year along with the MSU Billings Yellowjackets, Chadron State College Eagles, the Valley City State Vikings (N.D.) and the Trinity Bible College Lions. 
 
"There should be some interesting matchups," said Hardrocker cross country head coach Steve Johnson. "The women's race could be a dead head between a few of these teams --- including the Hardrockers."
 
Coach Johnson added, "Our guys have some pretty big aspirations for this season and this is their chance to see what they can do."
 
The Hardrockers women's team will be led by lone senior Kayla Gagen and lone junior Laramie Giles. Samantha Smith, Margaret Thompson and Marissa Holinka also return to the women's squad all as sophomores.
 
The 'Rocker women will welcome five new harriers. Taylor Bright, Alyssa Franke, Nadia Kaczmarz, Kelby Wilson and Adeline Wilson are all freshmen for SD Mines and will be asked to step in and contribute right away.
 
"We will be looking to our underclassmen to step up and help the team," Johnson said. "Although we do have a quality runner in senior Kayla Gagen. "We went from six to 10 (runners) and that was a real big relief for me. We have to have five to make a team and if someone gets injured in can be a challenge to roster a full squad."
 
On the men's side, the Hardrockers have 18 scholar athletes on the roster and ready to compete. The team has a solid core of returners, as seniors Chase Wood and Jacob Huber will lead the squad along with sophomores Andrew Harris and Ryan Moen to give SD Mines a solid unit to compliment a talented list of runners, including: Theron Singleton, Ben Colvin, Tim Myers, Anders Watt, Joel Haas and Mark Boden.
 
"We get a couple of guys back off redshirt this year which will be real valuable for us running up front," Johnson said.
 
The Hardrocker men welcome six freshmen to the team --- Grant Bauer, Monty Christo, III, Sam Elliott, Brett Flerchinger, Jonathon Kittelson and Lukas Lehmpuhl along with sophomore transfer Timothy Dunham.
 
"Excited about what we can get done. Our goal is to be a Top 10 program in both the conference and the region," Johnson said.

Schedule of events:
9:30 AM Men's Race - 8K
10:15 AM Kids Fun Run - sign up online or at the race 1K
10:30 AM Women's Race - 5K