LINCOLN, Neb. – The University of North Dakota men's cross country team finished fourth out of six Division I teams at the Woody Greeno/Nebraska Invitational on Saturday at Pioneers Park.
“We ran an extremely good race,” head coach Dick Clay said following the meet. “This is a course that's probably the toughest course we'll run outside of the [NCAA Midwest] Regional. I think we had four people under 27 minutes, two were in the low 26, so when you do that on this course this early in the year, to be running that well is very good.”
Freshman Alec Anderson (Chaska, Minn.) paced UND for the second straight meet, this time in an 8K race. Anderson clocked a time of 26 minutes, 12.4 seconds to finish in 16th place out of the Division I runners. There were 233 competitors total at the meet.
“He just ran a nice solid race,” Clay said. “For the freshmen, that's the first 8K they've ever run; they're used to 5Ks in high school, so to make that jump especially on a course like this for his first 8K is a pretty impressive performance for him.”
Senior Mark Harries (Plymouth, Minn.) was right behind Anderson in 17th place, and he ran a time of 26:14.3. A pair of juniors was next for UND, as Cataldo DiDonna (Bismarck N.D.) took 21st and Drew Campbell (Lake Elmo, Minn.) placed 24th to give North Dakota four top-25 finishes. DiDonna ran a time of 26:28.9 while Campbell crossed the line in 26:44.4.
Junior Ryan Kirkland (Mahtomedi, Minn.) finished just outside the top 25, running a time of 27:06.7 to finish 27th overall. Sophomore Connor Danielson (Fergus Falls, Minn.) took 30th with a time of 27:13.4, and junior Darin Baltezore (West Fargo, N.D.) ran a time of 27:18.0 to finish 32nd and round out UND's top-seven runners.
Nebraska's Wyatt McGuire captured medalist honors, as the hosts worked a 1-2-3-4 finish en route to placing first in the team standings.
Next up for North Dakota is the South Dakota State University Classic, coming up in Brookings, S.D. on Oct. 3. The men's race is set to begin at 10:45 a.m. (CT).
Team Standings
1. Nebraska, 16
2. Air Force, 46
3. Northern Iowa, 102
4. North Dakota, 105
5. Creighton, 115
6. Northern Colorado, 188
UND Participants
16. Alec Anderson, 26:12.4
17. Mark Harries, 26:14.3
21. Cataldo DiDonna, 26:28.9
24. Drew Campbell, 26:44.4
27. Ryan Kirkland, 27:06.7
30. Connor Danielson, 27:13.4
32. Darin Baltezore, 27:18.0
(> 7) Nathan Engstrom, 27:39.7
(> 7) Scott Kvidera, 27:39.8
