HAYS, Kan. --- The South Dakota Mines Cross Country team's performer in their last meet prior to the conference championships on Saturday at the Fort Hays State Tiger open.
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The women finished in 11
th as a team.
Abigaile Saline was the leader for the women, finishing with a time of 19:25.3. She was followed by
Ryley Darnell, who finished in 65
th with a time of 19:36.1.
Alyssa Franke,
Adeline Wilson and
Allyson Heiden also finished in the top 100.
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Head coach
Steve Johnson was excited about the performance of the women, stating,
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"Our women really put it on the line this weekend and exceeded expectations. We had a terrific pack time with just 32 seconds separating our top 5 runners. The ladies set a goal at the start of the season to put 5 women under the 20:00 mark and we were able to tick that one off today, which is a great feeling. Abbie Saline and
Ryley Darnell did a great job leading the way for the ladies this weekend. As we look at the conference meet, we have to get ourselves ready for a longer race now as we move up to the 6K distance to finish out the season."
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On the men's side of things, the team finished in 10
th place. Tim Dunham recorded a top-30 finish, recording a time of 25:05.9, the fastest time, for a Hardrocker has ever run on that course, to place him in 29
th overall.
Brett Flerchinger joined Dunham in the top 50, finishing in 38
th with a time of 5:06.4.
Ryan Moen finished in 57
th, finishing the race in a time of 25:48.4.
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Coach Johnson thought this meet was great preparation for the conference meet, "as expected there was some very fast racing on Saturday", said Johnson, it was a great field to prepare us for the conference and the region, getting to run against 5 of the top 10 teams in the Central region."
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Looking Ahead
The RMAC championships are being held on Oct. 23
rd, in Golden, Colorado.