Dominick Ingram, Staff Writer

The men’s and women’s cross country teams finished their first full day of races on different notes this Saturday, Sept. 21st. The men’s team earned their highest team finish in five years at the event, placing fifth out of 10 teams at the St. Olaf College Invitational. Meanwhile, the women’s team finished 10th in their first 6,000-meter race of the year.

The men’s team had several Auggies contribute to their fast finish, with several strong times and many first-years making notable contributions. In the first 8K race of the year, the Auggie men were lead by first-year Sakariya Hussien, who finished 24th overall with a 28:12.5 time. Meanwhile, another fellow Auggie first-year, Cody Rieder, was right behind Hussien and finished less than 30 seconds later, ending with a time of 28:45.7, good for 34th place overall. Alex Stonick, another, and junior Greg Miller also both had strong contributions to the team, finishing among the top 100 competitors. Stonick crossed at 31:04.7 and Miller at 31:33.2.

For the women’s team, Ann Sheely represented the Auggies well. Coming off of two straight top-30 individual efforts, Sheely finished first for the Augsburg women, coming in at 27:14.3, a 53rd-place finish. Jasmine Gonzalez and Maya Whitaker-Long recorded similar times, with Gonzalez crossing at 32:07.1 and Whitaker-Long at 32:07.4. Camryn Masse finished with a time of 35:46.4, Ingri Ramirez crossed at the 37:33.8 mark, and Isabelle Daniels at 39:16.5.

The Auggie cross-country team will be in good hands the rest of the year because of all the valiant contributions made so far. This young team oozes with potential, and it will be exciting to see how their season continues.

This article was originally published in the September 27, 2019 issue.