Antoine Bardou broke the 20 minute mark with a time of 19:50 to finish 19th out of 228 runners at Friday night’s meet. The Wildcats competed at the Augustana Twilight meet in Sioux Falls, a four-mile course, which means Bardou averaged faster than a five-minute mile pace.

 
Other finishers for the Wildcats were Corbin Lehn in 118th (21:20), Isaias Solorio in 122nd (21:25), Noah Noeker in 137th (21:42), Joey Black in 161st (22:13), Kak Ayaj in 193rd (23:01) and Nathan Pearson in 208th (23:49).

 
Wayne State finished 16th out of 22 teams with a total of 439 points.

 
The top five teams in the men’s college division were Augustana University with 32 points and Minnesota State close behind with 96. Black Hills State took third with 106, followed by Nebraska-Kearney (131) and Northwestern College (138).

 
“Antoine’s performance was outstanding,” head Coach Marlon Brink said. “His time was the fastest of any runner we’ve had in the six years we’ve gone to this meet.”

 
Bardou was also pleased with his performance.

 
“It was the first time I averaged a sub-five-minute pace so that was cool,” Bardou said. “I really liked the atmosphere of the meet.”

 
The Twilight meet is held in the dark, which is unlike any other meet the Wildcats attend. During the meet, there is a DJ blasting music the whole time and the runners are given glow sticks to put on while they run.

 
“The Augustana Twilight is such a fun meet because there is not a lot of pressure,” senior women’s cross country runner Andrea DeSimone said. “It doesn’t feel like a typical meet so it helps a lot with your nerves. Plus it’s a huge meet so there’s always girls to chase after in the race and it challenges you to keep picking people off.”

 
The WSC women’s cross country team finished 16th out of 20 teams, running on the three-mile course with a total of 495 points.

 
DeSimone was the team’s top finisher in 88th place with a time of 18:51.

 
Other finishers for the women were Jamie Larson in 102nd (19:10), Alexis Oswald in 142nd (19:56), Josephine Peitz in 164th (20:22), Mary Alderson in 214th (22:31) and Sarah Post in 225th (25:00).

 
The top five teams in the women’s college division were Winona State (84 points), Sioux Falls (115), Augustana University (130), Dordt (145) and Morningside (154).

 
“I was pretty pleased overall,” Brink said. “Andrea was eight seconds faster than last year. Our freshmen did well for their first college race. Sarah cut six minutes off her time from last year and we placed two places higher than last year.”

 
“I was happy with how I did,” said DeSimone. “I ran my best ever at that meet.”

 
Wayne State’s next meet will be at the Dakota State Invite in Madison, S.D., on Saturday.

 
The race will be a 5k race for the women and an 8k race for the men.