JAMESTOWN, ND – The University of Mary men's and women's cross country teams will head east to take part in the Jimmie Invitational in Jamestown, ND. The men's race will take place at 9:30 a.m. with the women's race following at 10:10 a.m. The Parkhurst Cross Country Course will be the host site of the meet.

Live results from the races can be found here.

LAST TIME OUT
UMary competed at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minnesota on Sept. 19. The men's team placed 7^th behind Gideon Hammah placing 4^th individually. The 7^th place finish was the best-ever for the program at the Griak.

The women's team came in 8^th with a brand new top-5. Terez Wycklendt paced the Marauders with a 17^th-place finish. Tori Stepka raced a cross-country course for the first time in her athletic career and placed 26^th.

LAST TIME IN JAMESTOWN
This will be the first time the Marauders run in Jamestown since 2022 due to the cancellation of the originally scheduled SDSU Classic. It was a very successful trip for UMary three years ago, as both the men's and women's teams took home victories.
All five runners on the men's side finished within the top-15 individually. Alyssa Becker claimed victory on the women's side as all five runners finished within the top-7.

ATHLETES TO WATCH
Sophomore Gideon Hammah was named UMary's NSIC Athlete to Watch after an impressive freshman campaign. Hammah won the Marauders Open and placed 19^th at the NSIC Championships last year.

On the women's side, Tori Stepka was named UMary's NSIC Athlete to Watch. Stepka spent her first season with the Marauders recovering from an injury and has never competed in cross country before. Head coach Chris Lessard is confident in her development over the course of last season.

NATIONAL RANKINGS
FloTrack released its national women's cross country rankings and the University of Mary came in at 32^nd.

PRESEASON POLLS
The men's team was picked to finish 3^rd in the NSIC in the preseason coaches' poll. That is the best preseason position for UMary since 2022.

The women's team was also picked 3^rd in the NSIC preseason coaches' poll. The team also came in at 29^th in FloTrack's National Preseason Rankings and 16^th in the USTFCCCA's rankings.

LOOKING BACK
After doubling their roster size last season, the UMary men's team place 4^th at the NSIC Championships. Caleb Hansen placed 5^th individually and was followed by Andrew Scheer in 15^th and Hammah in 19^th. At the NCAA Central Region Championships, the Marauders placed 16^th.

The women's team was the conference runner-up last season with Alyssa Becker winning the individual title. Kristine Kalthoff (3^rd) and Andrijana Fundak (6^th) also had strong finishes, marking the first time UMary had three runners in the top-6 since 2019. The Marauders went on to place 3^rd at the NCAA Central Region Championships and 18^th at the NCAA National Championships.

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