The Southwest Minnesota State University men’s and women’s cross country teams participated in the Briar Cliff Invite, which was held on Saturday, October 12 in McCook Lake, SD at the Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve. The men’s team placed fifth out of 12 teams, while the women’s team placed sixth out of nine teams.

Junior Trent Smith led the SMSU men with an 11th place finish out of 133 runners. Smith recorded a time of 26:00 in the8,000 meter race. Alejandro Sanchez was right behind Smith with a time of 26:07 for a 13th place finish. OJ Ojullu finished in 30th place with a time of 26:52. Kelly Fitzsimmons finished in 41st place (27:18), followed by Alex Solheim, who took 55th place (27:51). In 95th place was Chris Kveseth with a time of 29:30, followed by Austin Handley in 97th place (29:38) and Andrew Feucht in 101st place (29:57).

On the women’s side, the Mustangs were led by Amanda Grengs, who finished the 5,000 meter race with a time of 19:23 for 19th place finish out of 94 runners. Paige Yi followed Grengs with a time of 19:27 for a 22nd place finish. Tatum Larson finished in 31st place with a time of 19:57, followed by Julia Sauder in 51st place (21:01) and Hannah Dressen in 75th place (22:24).

In the men’s competition, the University of Sioux Falls finished in first place with a team total of 31 points, while USF’s women’s team took first place in the women’s competition with a team total of 45 points. The SMSU men finished with a team total of 137 points, while the women finished with168 points.