Oct. 27, 2012
Results
ROCHESTER, Mich. - The South Dakota cross country teams both finished second at the Summit League Championships on Saturday with a second place finish by Jeff Mettler (Eureka, S.D.) in the men's race and a sixth place finish by Megan Hilson (Yankton, S.D.) on the women's side.
Mettler and Hilson led a contingent of seven Coyotes who earned all-conference honors at the meet. Freshmen Mubarik Musa (Worthington, Minn.) and Amber Eickhorn (Wichita, Kan.) were also named Newcomers of the Championship on top of earning all-conference status.
South Dakota State won the eight-team men's race with 35 points. South Dakota had 62, IUPUI had 104, Oakland had 111 and Western Illinois tallied 119 to finish in the top-five. The women's race was won by North Dakota State with 36 points. South Dakota's 59, South Dakota State's 63, Oakland's 114 and Omaha's 157 rounded out the top-five in the nine-team field.
Mettler crossed the finish line of the 8k race in a time of 25:10.6, which was four seconds behind race winner Michael Krsnak of South Dakota State. Ethan Marquardt (Albert Lea, Minn.) placed seventh in 25:49.1 and Musa (Worthington, Minn.) was eighth in 25:58.8.
Mettler and Marquardt were named first-team all-conference, while Musa earned second-team all-conference honors.
Isaac Allen (Lincoln, Neb.) finished 22nd in 26:43.5, and Alex Hohenthaner (Yankton, S.D) was 23rd in 26:44.1. Brant Haase (Lemmon, S.D.) crossed the finish line in 26:55.8 and Benson Langat (Kapsabet, Kenya) crossed in 27:23.9 to finish in 28th and 40th, respectively.
Hilson earned first-team all-conference with her sixth place finish in 22:23.7. Her time was about 34 seconds behind race winner Brittni Hutton of Oakland (21:49.8).
Three Coyote women made second-team all-conference, led by Eickhorn's 11th place finish in 22:51.0. Katie Wetzstein's (Hudson, Wis.) 12th place in 22:54.4 and Ali Gress' (Papillion, Neb.) 14th place in 22:57.7 also earned second-team honors.
Carol Miller (Mead, Neb.) had a strong finish with a 16th in 23:05.4, Jessica Brandli (Rapid City, S.D.) finished 24th in 23:30.8 and Britni Waller (Lincoln, Neb.) was 25th in 23:31.1.
The Coyotes are next scheduled to race at the NCAA Midwest Regional on Nov. 10 in Springfield, Mo.
