Flames place 11th in loaded field
SIOUX CENTER, Iowa – The College of Saint Mary cross country team placed 11th in a rugged 17-team field in the Gold division at the Holiday Inn Express Classic on Saturday hosted by Dordt University.
The Flames finished with a team score of 282. The top 10 teams were Minnesota State (28), Dordt (59), South Dakota State (76), Augustana (S.D.) (101), Benedictine (Kan.) (190), Jamestown (N.D.) (235), Morningside (262), Minnesota Crookston (266), Dakota State (270) and Doane (270).
Following CSM were Sioux Falls (285), Northwestern (377), Concordia (392), Bellevue (399), Southwest Minnesota State (443) and Wayne State (454).
"That was a really loaded field,'' CSM Coach Derek Fey said. "Several teams within our reach ran out of their minds and that was about the worst we could have run as a group. It's crazy to say that when we had so many people run their best 6K ever.''
The scorers for the Flames were Kara Muller (41st, 22:39.43), Carly Henderson (56th, 22:57.88), Josie Karnik (63rd, 23:09.10), Kiley Craft (74th, 23:17.11) and Yenifer Juan Jesus (90th, 23:36.10).
The other runners for CSM in the Gold division were Olivia Elbert (91st, 23:37.49), Mira Fosmer (92nd, 23:40.50), Corinne Mead (99th, 23:56.66), Sarah Dickas (112th, 24:15.45) and Lily Ray (120th, 24:44.32).
Fey said the Flames weren't quite able to execute their race plan the way they wanted.
"The way that we race demands moving through the field as a group,'' he said. "The course was extremely narrow for the size of the field. At two miles, we had seven runners one second apart. When a few of them started moving, there just was no room for the rest to follow.''
Regardless, the CSM coach said his team's best days are still ahead of it, which is exciting.
"We very much took it as a positive that we did not have our strongest race by far, and yet we were within striking distance of a few teams that we know we can beat,'' he said.
The Flames also had three athletes compete in the Black division. Peyton Bell placed 61st in 25:35.02, Natalie Briggs took 68th in 25:58.27 and Evie Kelly ended 92nd in 27:52.15.
CSM is back in action on Oct. 25 at the Blazing Tiger Invite in Ashland, Neb.