JOPLIN, Mo. — The Southwest Minnesota State men's and women's cross teams finished 24th at the NCAA Central Region Championships on Saturday at the Missouri Southern State Cross Country Course.
The women's team recorded 661 points and finished 24th place at the 31 team championships, while the men's team tallied 714 points and finished 24th place out of 27 teams.
On the women's side,
Hannah Palmeter was SMSU's top finisher recording an 18th place finish out of 208 runners in the 6k race, with a time of 21:46.
Alexis Zeis from the University of Mary won the individual title with a time of 20:08. Southwest Baptist claimed the team title with 79 points, 20 points ahead of Minnesota Duluth.
SMSU's
Savannah Ramirez placed 126th with a time of 25:15, with teammates
Jen Keohen finishing 173rd (25:28),
Amanda Grengs 175th (25:31),
Kristen Weber 180th (25:42),
McKenzie Besel 182nd (25:50) and
Tatum Larson 187th (26:13).
On the men's side, Alex Solheim paced the Mustangs as his finished 126th out of 176 runners in the 10k race, with a time of 33:52.
Vincent Kiprop from Missouri Southern won the individual title with a time of 29:39. Augustana University won the team title with 82 total points, 22 points ahead of East Central.
SMSU's Evan Bonneson placed 136th with a time of 34:16, with teammates Ben Broze finishing 138th (34:16), Blake Wooten 153rd (35:03), Chris Kveseth 161st (35:48) and Kelly Fitzsimmons 166th (36:48).
Southwest Minnesota State concluded its 2015 season as only the top four teams advance to nationals.
