Maintenance Meet in Sioux City

Kearney, Neb. – The Nebraska-Kearney cross country teams finished second (women) and fifth (men) at the Charger Invite Friday afternoon in North Sioux City, S.D.

The meet was hosted by Briar Cliff (Ia.) University with area NAIA schools, junior colleges, South Dakota and South Dakota State taking part. The Loper women ran its main squad for a 5k with the UNK men using reserves on an 8k course.

Both Kearney teams came in regionally-ranked with the women having all five its scorers crack the top 16. Iowa senior Maddie Bach came in seventh (18:06.05) with Comstock senior Zoe Ritz eighth (18:14.68) and Kearney freshman Grace Bonsall ninth (18:18.11). Ella Byers of USD won in 17:39.22 with Cailee Peterson of SDSU the runner up.

UNK tallied 55 points to trail only the Coyotes (25) who had a couple of its top runners out. SDSU, using mainly a "B" squad, was third (68) with NAIA nationally-ranked Concordia fourth (128).

Also scoring for the Lopers was Imperial senior Destiny Reinke (15th/18:42.05) and Ulysses junior Sinclare Fiala (16th/18:43.26). Hooper redshirt freshman Elizabeth Polk was the sixth UNK runner to cross the line, coming in 21st place.

On the men's side, the Blue & Gold tallied 140 points with USD (21) easily winning and followed by Concordia (93), Dakota State (116) and Bellevue (120). Twelve teams took part overall.

Blair redshirt freshman Sam Lueders tallied a team-best 19 points (27:20.76) with Kearney redshirt junior Cole Willis at 23 (27:35.07). Merga Gemeda of USD was the winner (24:56.84) with teammate Charlie Babcock second (25:08.05).

Also scoring was Fremont redshirt freshman Wes Ferguson (27 points; 27:50.86), Ogallala senior Max Lindgren (31; 27:56.31) and Hastings redshirt sophomore Lukaas Simonson (40; 28:22.14). Finally, Geneva true freshman Garrett Nichols was UNK's sixth runner (28:57.90).

UNK heads to Kansas next Saturday for the annual Fort Hays State Tiger Open.

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Players Mentioned

Maddie Bach: Redshirt Senior

Grace Bonsall: Redshirt Freshman

Sinclare Fiala: Redshirt Junior

Elizabeth Polk: Redshirt Freshman

Destiny Reinke: Redshirt Senior

Zoe Ritz: Redshirt Senior

Wes Ferguson: Redshirt Freshman

Max Lindgren: Redshirt Junior

Sam Lueders: Redshirt Freshman

Lukaas Simonson: Redshirt Sophomore

Players Mentioned

Maddie Bach
: Redshirt Senior

Grace Bonsall
: Redshirt Freshman

Sinclare Fiala
: Redshirt Junior

Elizabeth Polk
: Redshirt Freshman

Destiny Reinke
: Redshirt Senior

Zoe Ritz
: Redshirt Senior

Wes Ferguson
: Redshirt Freshman

Max Lindgren
: Redshirt Junior

Sam Lueders
: Redshirt Freshman

Lukaas Simonson
: Redshirt Sophomore