The Wayne State College men’s cross-country team tallied 141 points and took home a fifth place finish this past weekend at the Dordt Invitational.  

The race was held on the campus of Dordt University. Junior Titus Kiptoo was the fastest Wildcat, finishing with a time of 25:04.21 and taking home a 12th place finish.  

“Titus has been consistent every meet. He is a very strong number one guy for us right now,” Head Coach Marlon Brink said. “Titus has a great work ethic and a lot of talent. I think we are just starting to see the tip of the iceberg with him.” 

The Wildcat men had a strong showing in Sioux Center, Iowa. Other Wildcat finishers were junior Brandon Mundorf, who finished with a time of 25:36.52 to earn a 19th place finish. Following him were two other runners who landed in the individual top 50, freshman Quentin Dreyer (36th — 26:21.32) and Abe Schroeder (49th — 26:38.39).  

“I had a race plan in my head ahead of time,” Dreyer said. “I took a more conservative approach at the beginning and at about halfway through the first lap, I realized how I wanted to finish. In my head, I said ‘If I have enough, no matter how many people are ahead of me going up that hill, I’m going to pick them off and try to hold them off until the end.’” 

Some other Wildcat runners who finished were Isaac Richards (62nd — 27:01.78), Brandon Mitzel (73rd — 27:17.68), Gabe Peitz (86th — 27:37.71) and Andrew Wylie (128th — 29:07.72).  

“It was probably the coldest meet we’ve had so far,” Dreyer said. “There was actually frost still on the ground as we got off the bus. It’s probably the flattest course we’ve ran too. There were a few sporadic hills, but pretty flat most of the way.” 

The top five team finishers were the host Dordt with 27 points, Grand View (60), Concordia (Neb.) (126), and Doane (132) and then Wayne State College (141). The Wildcats also saw some fellow Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference competition, as Sioux Falls placed 11th (308) and Southwest Minnesota State placed 14th (380) in the team standings.  

“There is going to be really tough competition in the next couple of meets, but this past weekend showed that this is a group capable of putting up some fast times,” Brink said. “This team has been building confidence and they are excited to go into the last month of the season.” 

The Wildcats will be back racing again on Saturday, Oct. 22 at the Mounty Marty Invitational in Yankton,  South Dakota. The race will take place at the Fox Run Golf Course.