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By Mike Anderson, NKU Sports Information EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. – The culture of consistency brings the Northern Kentucky University cross country teams continued success, as both squads enjoyed top-five finishes at the Border Wars meet Saturday, hosted by Southern Illinois at Edwardsville. On the women’s side, Julianne Hoekzema had another strong showing, finishing third overall in a field of 213 runners with a time of 18:31.70. The pace was 21 seconds behind individual winner Kimi Shank of Missouri Southern. Missouri Southern took the team event with a team score of 61, including two of the top five finishers. DePauw, Southwest Baptist, and Central Missouri rounded up the top four. Hoekzema led the women to a fifth-place finish with 189 total points. Jenna Siemer, (19:49.97, 33rd), Janice Laker (19:53.74, 35th), Alisha Hansman (20:25.26, 51st) and Kira Cooper (21:14.85, 82nd) factored into the team scoring. Rose Morgan (21:25.76, 90th), Chelsea Cantrell (21:47.16, 105th) and Ashley Jones (22:11.51, 115th) also competed in the event. The men stepped in as the No. 21 team in the latest NCAA Division II national poll and were good to their ranking, finishing with 94 points, putting them second as a team only to No. 20 Southwest Baptist. The men boasted two of the top 10 finishers as Zach Koehler took fifth with a time of 26:22.15 in the eight-kilometer event, and Matt Shoulta took seventh place after a 26:32.44 pace. NKU runners Ryne Smith (27:07.29, 18th), Keith Knapp (27:14.98, 26th), and Drew Harris (27:30.01, 37th) completed the team scoring as the Norse finished just nine points behind the victorious Bearcats. The Norse were also represented by Brad Bullock (28:40.03, 73rd), Eric Dwyer (29:39.18, 115th), Greg Lemmon (29:59.31, 125th), Jason Jones (31:30.68, 170th), and Hunter Durden (33:00.66, 203rd) in the meet. NKU head coach Steve Kruse will shore up his postseason squads this Friday at the Wilmington Fall Classic. |
