CROSS CROUNTRY WEEKLY REVIEW: Lancers Finish Sixth at DSU Meet

BY SCOTT MORRISON

The Lancers went into Madison with their eyes set squarely on competing at the Dakota State University Cross Country Meet last Saturday.

They were able to do this along with much more as all four Lancer runners were able to make improvements on their individual course times.

The Lancers scored a 149 in the meet as they finished 15 points ahead of Dakota Wesleyan University, who finished in the seventh and final spot with a 164.

“We had a solid finish at the DSU meet,” Lancer coach Dave Fisher said. “Our girls had a good feel for running against some good competition.”

Improvement was the highlight of the meet for the Lancers as all four runners were able to shave seconds and even minutes of their season and career bests.

This started with sophomore Megan O’Grady who finished the meet in a team best tenth place with a time of 19:24.82.

O’Grady’s performance was strong enough to set a personal best time. In the two short years, O’Grady has been able progress step-by-step as she makes her way to the front of the Great Plains Athletic Conference pack.

Junior runner Jessica Albers also had a solid finish as she ended up in 31st place after running the course in 22:13.18.

Albers has improved her performance by nearly ten minutes from a season ago. The hard work and dedication has that she has put in has made Albers one the Lancers most competitive runners.

“Jessica has improved drastically in every meet,” Fisher said. “She was under the weather a little on Saturday, but was still able to improve on her time.”

Sophomore Ashley Solem was able to do her part to help the Lancers to their sixth place finish as she ran the course with a time of 24:58.18.

Her time was good enough to earn her a 48th place finish.

Finishing the meet for the Lancers was senior Britteny Williams. Williams ran a 25:20.41 which helped her to a 50th place finish.

Williams time was nearly four minutes faster than her last performance at the South Dakota State Cross Country Invitational Meet.

“Overall we have a nice thing in the making,” Fisher said. “We need to continue to train hard and keep trying to move up in the pack.”

The Lancers will travel to Sioux City, Iowa to compete in the Briar Cliff University Invitational Cross Country Meet on Saturday Oct. 6 at 10:00 am.