Sept. 20, 2007

Madison, SD - Last Saturday (Sept. 15), the Dakota State University men's and women's cross country teams traveled to Brookings to take part in the South Dakota State Classic.  The meet featured schools from NCAA Division I and II, including University of Minnesota in the women's division.

On the men's side, Dakota State University finished as the highest NAIA place finisher as a team.  The Trojans, ranked fourth in the latest NAIA Region III poll, placed fifth with 130 points behind NCAA Division II Minnesota State-Mankato, NCAA Division I South Dakota State, NCAA Division II University of Mary, and NCAA Division I North Dakota State.  Senior Chris Heezen and sophomores Anthony Drealan and Tyler Van Peursem finished as the top three for NAIA.  Heezen finished seventh with the time of 25:49.  Drealan crossed the finish line in 21^st place with a time of 26:41 and Van Peursem finished 29^th in 27 minutes and four seconds.

"All of our runners improved and ran faster at the same course and meet from last year," stated Trojans' head coach Buzz Stevenson.  "We had an outstanding team effort at the meet."

Other Dakota State men's place finishers are:  Matt Fideler - 39^th (27:28); Ben Harrison - 55^th (28:16); Andrew Manning - 59^th (28:29); Jeff Sawatzky - 63^rd (28:52); German Amezquita - 75^th (29:31); Tyler Heller - 80^th (29:52); Josh Arbeiter - 89^th (30:59); Kyle Sanderson - 96^th (31:59); and Jordan VanMannan - 99^th (33:11).

On the women's side, the Lady T's placed eighth as a team with 242 points.  The women's meet consisted of schools from NCAA Division I University of Minnesota (won the women's meet), South Dakota State, North Dakota State, and NCAA Division II Minnesota State-Mankato and University of Mary.  Senior Nicole Geraets placed as the third highest NAIA place finisher in the meet in 38^th place (19:50). 

"Like the men, the women improved from the previous meet at Dakota Wesleyan Invitational," emphasized Stevenson.  "It was good to see them improving their performance in each meet in preparation for the conference and region meets."

There were a total of 119 runners in the women's meet.  The Lady T's place finishers are:  Clarice Bauer - 55^th (20:24); Suzanne Swett - 71^st (21:07); Jordan Larson - 78^th (21:20); Carissa Holtrop - 95^th (22:31); Lisa Chase - 97^th (22:45); Loni VanRegenmorter - 106^th (23:33); and Chelsey Holland - 116^th (24:43).

"Overall, I was very pleased with their performance at the South Dakota State Classic, considering that it was cloudy and breezy," quoted Stevenson.  "As the team keeps improving, we hope to be very competitive by conference and region time."