SIOUX FALLS, SD – University of Mary men's and women's cross country will hit the road for its first away meet of the season, competing at the Augustana Invitational on Friday, Sept. 25. Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls, SD, will be the site of the meet.
Live results from the meet can be found here. The men's race begins at 10:15 a.m. and the women's race follows at 11:00 a.m.
Yankton Trail Park will also host the NSIC Championships and NCAA Central Region Championships this season.
LAST TIME OUT
UMary began its season two weeks at the Marauders Home Opener. Both the men's and women's teams placed second at the meet behind Division I North Dakota State.
Gideon Hammah (1
st),
Josiah DeMaris (10
th),
Tori Stepka (2
nd), and
Amanda Overgaauw (7
th) all secured top-10 finishes.
ATHLETES OF THE WEEK
Following strong performances at the Marauders Home Opener, both
Gideon Hammah and
Tori Stepka were named NSIC Athletes of the Week. Hammah won the men's race with a time of 24:51.3, finishing as the only athlete under 25 minutes. Stepka set a PR by nearly 40 seconds with a time of 21:36.4, placing 2
nd at the race.
SEASON PREVIEW
Both the men's and women's teams were projected to finish top-five in the Northern Sun according to the conference's preseason coaches' poll. The men were picked 4
th and the women were picked 5
th. Of the 10 athletes that scored points at the NSIC Championships last year for both teams, 7 are back with the Marauders.
ATHLETES TO WATCH
Junior
Gideon Hammah was named UMary's Athlete to Watch for the men's team. He had an All-NSIC finish last year in cross country season, placing 9
th before winning the 800m at the NSIC Outdoor Championships.
Senior transfer
Amanda Overgaauw was named UMary's Athlete to Watch for the women's team. She joins the Marauders from Minnesota State University, where she competed at the NCAA Central Region Championships (40
th) and the NCAA National Championships (179
th) last year. She also reached the NCAA Championships with Augustana University in 2023.
NEW FACES
The women's team added three athletes in addition to Overgaauw.
Lynette Kalthoff and
Taylor Bourgoine are freshmen and
Katherine Ryan is a junior who joined the squad after competing for UMary Swimming for two years.
The men's team added five freshmen as
Davin Christen,
Tristan Crittenden,
Lucas Finders,
Landon Herr, and
Jacob Windsor are new to UMary.
SCHULTZ JOINS STAFF
UMary cross country added
Steven Schultz to its coaching staff as the team's associate head coach. Schultz had been the head coach of Minot State cross country since 2023 and coached a pair of track and field NCAA All-Americans during his time there.
POINT SCORERS
UMary's distance runners made big contributions to the track and field team's success at the indoor and outdoor conference championships. Listed with the number of events they finished on the podium, those point scorers were:
Ian Butman (3),
Josiah DeMaris (1),
Gideon Hammah (3),
Joseph Ringhand (3),
Giselle Jahner (4),
Amber Rosemeier (3), and
Tori Stepka (1). Rosemeier (800m, DMR), Jahner (DMR), and Hammah (800m) were all NSIC Champions.
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