GPAC Championships

• PREVIEW
• RECAP/RESULTS

The Event... The Northwestern College cross country teams will compete in the GPAC Championships this Saturday, November 8. This year's event will be run at the Elks Country Club in Hastings, Neb. with the women's 5K race at 10:30 am, followed by the men's 8K race at 11:15 am. Hastings serves as the host school.

The Participants... All 13 GPAC schools will compete in the event which will feature around 100 runners per race.

Last Year... Nebraska Wesleyan won both the men's and women's conference titles in 2007 with 29 and 45 points, respectively. Concordia took second in both races with 49 and 77 points. The Red Raider women's team placed third, just one point behind Concordia, with 78 points. Olivia Johnson and Charity Miles finished in first and second place with times of 18:07 and 18:10. Both runners earned all-conference honors and was the first individual championship in the history of the women's program. Sara Hess placed 17th overall, followed by Steph Powell in 23rd place.

The NWC men's team placed eighth with a team score of 198. Danny Owens was the top Red Raider finisher as he placed 35th with a time 27:42 followed by Jon Woehl and Kyle Gerhard in 37th and 42nd place.

Last Time Out...Both teams competed in the Graphic Edge Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 25 in their final tune-up before the GPAC Championships.The meet was hosted by the University of South Dakota and was run at the Don Baker Cross Country Course in Vermillion, S.D.

The women’s team placed seventh out of 14 teams with a team score of 156. The host school, USD (NCAA D-I) won the women’s team championship with 52 points. Charity Miles was the top NWC runner as the sophomore finished in 11^th place with a time of 19:13. Sara Hess placed 24^th with a time of 19:41, followed by Jenna Sorensen (29^th-19:45) and Stephanie Powell (41-20:02).

The men’s team finished in 10^th place out of 15 teams with a team score of 238. Concordia won the team title with 34 points, followed by Black Hills State in second with 62. Danny Owens led the Red Raiders with a 41^st place finish out of 142 runners with a time of 27:33. Kyle Gerhard finished just three spots back in 27:43. Jack Peterson finished the 8000m in 28:00, good for 50^th place.

At Stake... The top two teams from each race, minus Nebraska Wesleyan who elects to go NCAA D-III for the postseason, will advance to the NAIA National Cross Country Championships in Kenosha, Wis. on Nov. 22. The top seven individual runners outside those two teams will also advance, provided they finish in the top 20 or better.

Red Raider Notes... Charity Miles returned to the lineup at the Graphic Edge Open with an 11th place finish and a time of 19:13. It was the first race since the Dordt Early Invite for Miles where she placed second overall. Sara Hess has a pair of top 15 finishes in her last three meets, placing fourth with a season-best time of 19:02 at the BCU Invite. Ingrid Carlson has two top 15 finishes and ran a season-best 19:18 (11th place) at the BCU Open. Jenna Sorensen recorded her best time of the year at the Graphic Edge Open (19:45) and placed 29th overall.

Kyle Gerhard recorded his season-best time at the Graphic Edge Open (27:43), good for 44th place. Danny Owens placed 16th at the BCU Open with a time of 27:31 and placed 41st at the Graphic Edge Open with a time of 27:33.

GPAC Release