2 weeks Ago By Staff reports
MINOT, N.D. — Minnesota Duluth's cross country programs both notched solid top-five team finishes at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship on Saturday, hosted by Minot State.
The UMD men took third, with fifth-year senior Jack Van Kempen taking fourth individually, his best career finish at the NSIC meet. His time of 24 minutes, 9.3 seconds for 8 kilometers put him firmly in the lead pack throughout and only three seconds off the runner-up.
His finish was good for all-NSIC First Team recognition. Earlier Van Kempen was recognized as the league's Cross Country Outstanding Senior of the Year, an academic/athletic award voted on by conference coaches. ADVERTISEMENT Ryan Hartman of Augustana won the event in 23:49 and his team won the team competition handily with Minnesota State Moorhead in second.
Owen Dickinson (Solon Springs) was 14th overall and earned all-NSIC Second Team honors. Two other finishers, junior Alex Heidorn and sophomore Noah Foster (Cromwell-Wright) placed in the top 30 in the field of 133 entrants. UMD was fourth in the women's team competition but had two all-NSIC First Teamers: seniors Franny Seidel and Maddie Verkerke, who finished eighth and ninth, both in 21:12 over 6 kilometers.
Freshman Mileena Sullivan (Hibbing), sophomore Ellie Hanowski and junior Elizabeth VanLoon were all in the top 30. VanLoon received the NSIC Elite Award for the highest grade-point average among championship participants. UMary's Alyssa Becker won the individual title in 19:51.
ADVERTISEMENT Augustana also won the women's meet, though UMD in finishing fourth (also behind Mary and Winona State) was closer in points to the Vikings than they were in the men's standings. VOLLEYBALL UMD tipped at Northern State Minnesota Duluth could not make the most of a huge performance from senior Samantha Paulsen in a 3-1 (23-25, 25-20, 25-22, 25-19) NSIC volleyball loss to Northern State on Saturday in Aberdeen, South Dakota. Paulsen had 20 kills and a .
368 hitting percentage but UMD saw a three-match win streak snapped. UMD won the first six points of the day and eight of the first nine, though briefly fell behind in the first set before kills from Madeline Guetzkow and Payton Addink broke a 23-all tie. UMD was just a bit behind in the last three sets, as the Wolves had the higher hitting percentage and piled up a match-affecting number of aces (15 to UMD's six) and blocks (17 to UMD's five).
Abby Brooks had a hand in 14 blocks for NSU, which broke a school single-match record. Maddi Kealy led UMD with 31 assists, while Kaylyn Madison (14) was one of three UMD players with double-digit digs. ADVERTISEMENT UMD (12-9, 5-8 NSIC) returns home to face Minot State on Friday night at Romano Gym.
.
