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.
 
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.
 
Head coach Steve Johnson was excited about the performance of the women, stating,
 
"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."
 
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.
 
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."
 
Looking Ahead
The RMAC championships are being held on Oct. 23^rd, in Golden, Colorado.