Isaias Solorio and Molly McCartney were the top finishers for
the Wildcats during cross country action in Sioux Falls, S.D. Friday night.

Wayne State competed at the Augustana Twilight meet, hosted by Augustana University at the Yankton Trails soccer complex. The women’s race was 5,000 meters, and the men’s race was 4 miles.

The rare night race gives competitors an opportunity to run in the dark, uncommon for the sport of cross country.

“The course was really flat and that’s nice for a first race,” Solorio said. “It was also really dark at a few places so it made the race pretty exciting because you could only hear all the footsteps of the runners.”

Finishers for the Wayne State men were Solorio (113, 21:27), Brock Hegarty (139, 21:48), Nathan Pearson (170, 22:17), Jack Doughty (190, 22:45), Bailey Peckham (214, 23:28), Jesus Arellano (225, 22:45) and Nathan Heimer (262, 25:22).

Finishers for the Wayne State women were McCartney (92, 19:43), Brianna Crouch (188, 21:14), Josephine Peitz (231, 22:07), Kim Lowman (235, 22:10) and Sabrina Sack (268, 23:26).

“Competing in my first collegiate race was a rush,” McCartney said. “Since I’ve never ran a cross country meet before, it was very different for me, but it was awesome.”

The men finished 18th out of 22 teams overall, while the women placed 17th out of 25 overall. The men’s team was without its top returner, Antoine Bardou, who is currently out due to injury, but expected to return later this season.

“I thought the team did a pretty good job for the first race and having such a young team,” Solorio said. “We can improve as a team, that’s for sure.”

Mason Phillips of the University of Sioux Falls, the reigning NSIC 800-meter champion, won the men’s race with a time of 19:15. Phillips averaged a staggering 4:48 mile pace to lead Sioux Falls to first place in the College division. South Dakota took first in the University division.

On the women’s side, Emily Martin of Creighton was victorious with a time of 17:21. South Dakota took first in the University division, while Winona State won the college division.

WSC will be back in action Saturday, Sept. 16 in Lincoln for the Woody Greeno invite at Pioneer Park.