The South Dakota Mines men's and women's cross country teams will toe the starting line this Friday at the Gage McSpadden Memorial Meet hosted by Black Hills State in Spearfish, South Dakota. The race will be run at the Spearfish Canyon Country Club. The women's race begins at 5:45 p.m. and the men will run at 6:15 p.m.

"We're excited to get going this week," said cross country head coach Steve Johnson. "We've got some men and women that put in a lot of work over the summer and have looked really good so far, it'll be nice to see how we stack up against some other (Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference) schools."

The men's roster is loaded with balance attack from veterans to newcomers. Seniors on the squad are Ben Colvin, Joel Haas, Theron Singleton, and Chase Wood. Timothy Dunham, Andrew Ferris, Ryan Moen, Tim Myers, Isaac Orozco, and Anders Watt round out the junior class. Sophomores include Grant Bauer, Monty Christo III, Sam Elliot, Brett Flerchinger, and Lukas Lehmpuhl. New to the program this year are Zach Hentschel, Gerrit Liingston, Hunter Prather, and Cory Stone.

Coach Johnson is looking to the upper classmen for leadership on the course. "Haas and Dunham will lead the way for us this year," said Johnson.

The Hardrockers women's squad will be loaded with young talent this fall. Johnson is looking for Lindsay Butler (FR), Ryley Darnell (FR), Taylor Bright (R-SO), and Alyssa Franke (SO) to step up and lead the way this season. Rounding out the roster this fall are juniors Laramie Giles, Samantha Smith and Margaret Thompson. Sophomores include Nadia Kaczmarz, Adeline Wilson, Bright and Franke. Newcomers to this year's squad are Hannah Denman, Abigaile Saline, Butler and Darnell.

"We know we are much improved on both sides and this Friday will be a great test for us," said Johnson.

Also on the 2020 schedule, the Hardrockers travel to the Chadron State Open on Saturday Oct. 3 in Chadron, Nebraska. The RMAC Championship will conclude the season on Saturday, October 24^th in Colorado Springs, Colorado.