GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota will visit Vermillion this Saturday for the Summit League Championships. All seven Summit League men's teams and all eight women's programs will compete at the meet.
The top seven individual finishers in each race will earn first team All-Summit League status, while the next seven finishers will be named to the second team.
The women's 6K will begin the meet at 11 a.m., followed by the men's 8K at Noon. The awards ceremony will take place immediately following the second race.
Live results for both races will be provided by
Dakota Timing. The Summit League Championships will also have a multi-camera stream with commentary provided. The stream can be found on the
Summit League Network.
2023 Summit League Championships - UND Top 6K Non-Redshirt Returners
2023 Summit League Championships - UND Top 8K Non-Redshirt Returners
Last Time Out
North Dakota ran against some of the top teams in the country at the Arturo Barrios Invitational on the campus of Texas A&M. The Fighting Hawks beat out five Power 4 teams. The NoDak men finished 21st out of 38 teams with 563 points in the 8K, while the UND women were 21st out of 41 teams with 617 points in the 6K.
In the men's 8K, all of the point scorers for UND posted PRs and the Fighting Hawks beat out the Power 4 schools of Houston, Baylor and Arizona State.
Ian Busche led the way for NoDak and took 78th with a time of 23:58.7.
Matej Hrebacka (81st, 24:00.0) and
Aleksa Milanovic (120th, 24:20.1) were the second and third Hawks to cross the finish line.
Louis-Lys Fanucchi (147th) and
Jonas Weschle (181st) were also in the top-200 with times of 24:32.1 and 24:45.8, respectively.
Ethan Kimmel clocked a time of 24:54.4 to finish 204th, while
Cian Nagle was 211th in 24:56.0.
All of the point scorers for the North Dakota women also recorded personal-bests and the team finished quicker than the Power 4 schools of Houston and Arizona State.
Eliana Malnourie was the top finisher for NoDak with a time of 20:20.1 to take 45th.
Naja Weiler was also in the top-100 and finished 67th with a time of 20:41.5.
Frida Giersdorff (21:46.7) and
Olivia Correale (21:56.9) were also in the top-200 and took 176th and 195th, respectively.
Gabrielle Wahl clocked a time of 22:07.1 and was 213th.
Elle Sondag (248th, 22:30.0) and
Rachel Hughes (279th, 22:46.2) rounded out the scoring for the Hawks.
Malnourie's Peak Performer of the Week Accolades
North Dakota cross country runner
Eliana Malnourie was selected as the Summit League Women's Cross Country Peak Performer of the Week on both Sept. 3 and Sept. 17.
Malnourie garnered her first conference weekly accolade on Sept. 3 after pacing the Fighting Hawks in the 5K at the Ron Pynn Classic and finishing third with a personal-best time of 17:54.5. She was the top runner attached to a team to finish at the meet and helped the Hawks capture the team title.
She received her second Peak Performer of the Week accolade on Sept. 17 after leading North Dakota in the 5K at the Dragon Twilight. At the meet, she broke the meet record and finished third with a personal-best time of 17:34.6. She broke the meet record of 17:47.3, which was set by Jaiden Schutte of UMary in 2018. Malnourie was able to break the meet record by being the top finisher attached to a team.
Hawks to Watch
At the beginning of the season, the Summit League announced the annual preseason poll, along with the names of four UND student-athletes who were named Athletes to Watch in the Summit League this season. Both North Dakota teams were tabbed to finish fourth in the preseason poll. The Hawks named Athletes to Watch were
Frida Giersdorff,
Eliana Malnourie,
Ian Busche and
Aleksa Milanovic.
Giersdorff finished 26th in the 6K at the Summit League Championships last season with a time of 22:32.0. She also ran in the 6K at the NCAA Midwest Regional and finished 147th in 23:08.9 to help the Fighting Hawks to their best regional finish in UND's Division I history. Giersdorff opened her collegiate running career at the Ron Pynn Classic last September and finished fifth with a 5K time of 19:14.6. She also clocked a season-best 5K time of 19:06.9 at the SDSU to take 28th and posted a season-best time of 22:11.5 in the 6K at the Paul Short Run to take 159th.
Malnourie was one spot shy of all-conference status at the Summit League Championships last season, taking 15th with a 6K time of 21:56.1. She was also 84th in the 6K at the NCAA Midwest Regional with a time of 22:15.9 to help North Dakota to its best regional finish in UND's Division I history. Malnourie opened the year at the Ron Pynn Classic and finished third in the 5K with a time of 18:34.2. She also placed fifth at the SDSU Classic with a 5K time of 18:08.5 and crossed the finish line 126th at the Paul Short Run in a 6K time of 21:57.6.
Busche clocked an 8K time of 26:00.0 at the Summit League Championships to take 32nd last season. He also crossed the finish line 139th at the NCAA Midwest Regional with a 10K time of 33:09.4 to help the Hawks to their best regional finish in Division I history. Busche began the year at the Ron Pynn Classic and placed sixth with a 6K time of 19:17.2 and was 23rd with a season-best time of 25:56.5 in the 8K at the SDSU Classic.
Milanovic finished 23rd in the 8K at the Summit League Championships with a time of 25:37.3. He also helped NoDak to its best regional finish in school history and had a 10K time of 33:51.4 and finished 166th at the NCAA Midwest Regional. He opened the season at the Ron Pynn Classic and placed third with a 6K time of 18:53.9 and clocked a season-best time of 25:13.6 in the 8K at the SDSU Classic to finish 14th. At the Paul Short Run, Milanovic took 174th with an 8K of 25:32.5.
On Tap
After this weekend, the Fighting Hawks will compete in the NCAA Midwest Regional in Peoria, Ill., on Friday, Nov. 15.
