The Spartan Cross Country teams competed in the 16th Annual Viking Invitational held at Des Moines Area Community College's cross country course. The Southwestern men finished in 8th place after accumulating 223 team points. This was the first 8K distance this group has ran together, and it was a great learning experience. "Everyone followed their race plans given to them, so I am happy with that," said head coach, Scott Vicker. After days and days of rain, the course ran slow for all participants, but Vicker is "pleased with how our men ran." "We will continue to drop time as they become more comfortable facing the 8K distance and as they start to see the benefits of their training. I was really happy with Leland Perkins. He didn't panic early on and kept running his race. He didn't let the other competitors force him into abandoning his race plan and he steadily moved up throughout the race and had a great finish. Hopefully this will be a big confidence booster for him."

The lone Spartan woman to compete, Mazzlyn Hummel stepped up and ran faster in the slower-overall conditions. "Mazzy Hummel ran 34 seconds faster than she did on this course last week, and in much slower conditions this week. I was happy for her, knowing she was not happy with how she performed previously."

8. Southwestern C C
   27  Josh Baudler, Fr         28:50.9  
   44  Connor Koppa, Fr         30:38.6  
   49  Nicholas Mather, Fr      31:59.2  
   51  Levi Detrick, Fr         32:29.6  
   52  Ahmed Fofana, So         34:22.6  
   54  Leland Perkins, Fr       34:56.9  
Total Time = 2:38:20.9     Total Places = 223








45 Mazzy Hummel, So 25:32.5 Southwestern C C