BISMARCK, ND – The University of Mary men's and women's cross country teams will be hosting their second home meet of the season, the Marauders Open, on Homecoming Weekend. The race will take place tomorrow, Oct. 10, from McDowell Dam in Bismarck, ND.
The men's race will begin at 4:00 p.m. and the women's race will follow at 4:45 p.m.
LAST TIME OUT
UMary competed at the Jimmie Invitational last weekend with strong performances on both the men's and women's sides on Oct. 3. The women's team placed 3
rd with both
Terez Wycklendt (10
th) and
Tori Stepka (12
th) both tallying top-15 finishes.
Gideon Hammah paced the men's team with a 5
th-place finish, the best of any non-Division I runner at the meet. The team placed 5
th overall in the 10-team field.
LAST TIME AT HOME
The Marauders opened this season at home with the Marauders Invitational on Sept. 5. Both the men's team and
Gideon Hammah had 2
nd-place finishes at the meet, with
Caleb Hansen placing 8
th.
The women's team also placed 2
nd, with senior
Terez Wycklendt leading the way in 4
th overall.
ATHLETE OF THE WEEK
Thanks to his 5
th place finish at the Jimmie Invitational,
Gideon Hammah was named the NSIC Men's Cross Country Athlete of the Week. The sophomore was the first Marauder since 2021 to receive the honor, doing so after his third consecutive top-5 finish to start the season.
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.
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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