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By Chad Hensley, NKU Sports Information CHICAGO – Consistency in Chicago comes in many different forms – the wind will forever be strong, Harry Carrey will always be a legend to the locals and pizza will be serve deep-dish style. For Northern Kentucky University cross-country coach Steve Kruse, consistency runs in the form of Julianne Hoekzema. Hoekzema, a native of Fairfield, Ohio, finished the 35th Annual Sean Earl Lakefront Invitational hosted by Loyola-Chicago in a time of 18:27, which was good enough for second place out of 286 runners in the Maroon Division race. Missouri Southern State’s Kimi Shank won the event, besting Hoekzema’s time by 18 seconds. NKU also received a strong performance from Jenna Siemer as the St. Henry graduate finished the course in a time of 19:18 – good enough for a 16th place finish. Alisha Hansman (30), Janice Laker (34), and Kira Cooper (61) were the other top finishers for Kruse’s squad. As a team, the Norse finished in 4th place with 137 points. MSSU easily won the 21 team event by 69 points over its closest competition. Great Lakes Regional rivals Findlay and Ferris State were the other schools that finished in front of the Norse. Consistency reared its head in the men’s race as the Norse continued to put forth an outstanding effort against strong competition – including several Division I opponents. For the second time this season, Ryne Smith was the lead runner for the Norse. Smith, a graduate of Scott High School, continues to climb the ladder of top performances for the Norse. Smith’s time of 25:33 was good enough for 25th out of 234 runners in the eight-kilometer event. Matthew Shoulta finished 11 seconds behind Smith for second place on the team – a result that he has consistently produced in each of NKU's last four meets. Adam Stoppelwerth (38), Keith Knapp (45) and Zach Koehler (51) were the other top finishers for the Norse. NKU finished in 5th place in the team standings with 160 points – eight better than Great Lakes Region rival Saginaw Valley State. Ryan Kienzle of Malone College – a NAIA powerhouse – won the men’s event with a time of 24:34. Kienzle’s finish helped Malone win the competition by 20 points. Iowa, Creighton and Western Ontario rounded out the top four. The Norse will return to action on October 6 when they travel to Edwardsville, Ill., to take part in the SIUE Border Wars. The first race is schedule to begin at 10 a.m. CST. |
