MINNEAPOLIS -- September 23, 2017 -- With sophomore
Alyse Henry and senior
Nicky Banzhaf finishing together to set the pace, the Chadron State College women's cross country team finished 15th among the 43 teams at the 38th annual Roy Griak Invitational Meet on Saturday at the University of Minnesota.
The Chadron State men, led by sophomore
Riley Howard's 28th place finish, were No. 18 in the men's standings.
There were 44 teams and more than 400 runners in both races.
The CSC women's placing was 13 spots higher than last year, when both Henry and Banzhaf were redshirting. Officially, Henry was 52nd in 23 minutes and 53.6 seconds and Banzhaf was 53th, just tenth of a second behind.
The Lady Eagles' other placings and times were
Taylor Allison, 104th, 24:48.6;
Julia Eskelson, 126th, 25:18.7; and Dominque Oden, 131st, 25:23.7. The team's point total was 466 points compared to 827 a year ago.
Both Allison and Oden, the only CSC women who competed both this year and last year, showed big improvement Saturday. Allison's time over the 5 kilometer course a year ago was 27:16 and Oden's was 27:52.
The Chadron State men placed 13th in the team standings at last year's Griak Meet when
Alejandro Garcia and
Dylan Stansbury finished 17th and 22nd, , respectively. Both graduated in May. The Eagles scored 353 points last year, compared to 435 on Saturday.
Howard's 28th place time that led CSC Saturday was 26:50. A year ago, he was the Eagles' third finisher, placing 75th in 27:54.
The other Eagles whose points counted in this year's total were
Eric Yager, 73rd, 27:32; Phil Duncan, 79th, 27:38;
Levi Avila, 119th, 28:09; and
Sheldon Curley, 136th, 28:21.
Like Howard, both Yager and Duncan improved their times from a year ago over the 8K course by nearly a minute. Avila's time was about 30 seconds faster this year. Curley is a freshman this fall.
Augustana College at Sioux Falls, S.D., repeated as the men's team champion while placing four runners among the top 10. The Vikings had 49 points while runner-up California-San Diego was second with 149.
Both the first and second place men Saturday were sophomores from the University of Sioux Falls. They are Mason Phillips in 25:31 and Steven Brown in 26:00. Ayrton Ledesma of Gillette College was third in 26:02. Augustana freshman Alec Kray was fourth at 26:09.
A Canadian school, Simon Fraser, won the women's team championship with 72 points, two fewer than second place Pittsburg State of Kansas. The University of Mary from North Dakota was third with 99.
Mary's Alexis Zeis repeated as the individual champion. Her time of 21:41 was 29 seconds faster this year. Julia Howley of Simon Fraser was second in 22:42 and Katelyn Smith of Northern Michigan was third at 22:44.
The Eagles next outing will be on Saturday, Oct. 7 at Western Washington University at Bellingham. They'll host the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference Meet on Oct. 21.
