Cross country finishes in the middle of pack at Pre-Nationals Saturday

Junior Seth Wold and senior Amy Egan led USU’s cross country team to a 29th-place finish for the men and 27th place for the women at the pre-nationals in Terre Haute, Ind., Saturday.

“We are getting ready for the championships now, and we took a good step in preparing for the championships this weekend,” Head Coach Gregg Gensel said.

In the 40-team men’s race, Wold led the Aggies with a time of 24:06. He finished in 53rd out of 273 runners.

Freshman Nick Bolinder finished in 24:56, placing 142nd place. Sophomore Steve Strickland finished the race with a time of 25:03, putting him in 161st. Other notable Aggie finishes were freshman Chio Lopez, finishing 177th with a time of 25:16. In 195th was sophomore Andrew Niccoli, who was clocked at 25:28. Just behind him was teammate and fellow sophomore Jason Holt, finishing with a time of 25:29, placing him in 197th place. At 25:32, freshman Jared Glenn placed 204th.

Josh McDougal of Liberty University won the race with a time of 22:56.4.

The men’s team finished with 728 points in a race won by the University of Texas-El Paso with 128 points, and the University of Colorado came in second with 155 points. Rounding out the top five for the men were North Carolina State with 182 points, Michigan with 208 and Notre Dame with 261 points.

Egan, who finished in 91st place out of 259 runners, had a time of 21:37. With a time of 22:05, junior Allison Taylor placed 129th. Junior Caroline Berry, with a time of 22:17, placed 150th.

As for other Aggies, senior Stacie Dorius came in 158th, running the race in 22:22. Not far behind was freshman Alicia Holt with a time of 22:47. Sophomore Erin Stratton came in 228th with a time of 23:28, and coming in 235th was freshman Kim Quinn at 23:45.

The overall winner of the race was Susan Kuijken of Florida State with a time of 19:55.5.

The women’s Aggie team finished with a total of 719 points in the 38-team race that Stanford University won with 102 points. Florida State finished second with 123 team points. Rounding out the top five, Michigan came in third with 178 team points, then Minnesota with 192 and Georgetown with 210. The next time USU will be competing is Saturday, Oct. 27. That is when USU will hold the Western Athletic Conference Championships.