The Southwestern men's and women's cross country teams competed strongly on a cool and damp Friday the 13th, on the campus of North Iowa Area Community College in Mason City for the Trent Smith Invite, with the men ending their day with a second place finish.
The October conditions were almost perfect for the athletes, despite the rain upon arrival. Combined with the cool conditions, the Spartans got to traverse a flat and fast multiple loop course that put their talent on display for everyone to see.
The Spartan women, who were down a runner due to a minor injury, did not score as a team. However, they did not let this deter them from having great individual performances on the fast 5K course. Heather Jessen, freshman of Baxter, led the way for the Spartans with a time of 21:27. That time makes her the seventh fastest individual performer in Spartan history. It is just off of the top 20 list for all-time individual performances. Jessica Beatty, freshman of Creston, came in next for the Spartans in a time of 23:25, a season-best for her. Also running for the Spartans were Halie Dean, freshman of Sidney, and BreAnn Rhodes, freshman of Grand River, both of which took several minutes off of their career bests.
The Spartan men set out the day determined to prove themselves as a legitimate contender in the region. They did just that, with the top five Spartans all finishing in the top 15 and within 13 seconds of each other. Their performances moved all of them into the Top 20 on the all-time individual performers list. The pack was led in the 8K race by Nathan Bradley, freshman of State Center, with an outstanding time of 27:25, which was good enough for 10th place overall. Stringing right in behind him were the rest of the Spartans top 5, Kevin Dietrich, sophomore of Port Neches, TX; Jalen Two Leggins, sophomore of Crow Agency, MT; Phoenix Shadden, freshman of Atlantic; and Shane Breheny, freshman of Greenfield, in 11th (27:27), 13th (27:36), 14th (27:37), and 15th (27:38) respectively. All these times were career bests at the 8k distance for these individuals. Rounding out the top seven, both with season-best performances, were Chance Webster, sophomore of Panora, and Terrell Gibbs, sophomore of Kimberly, WI.
As a team, the Spartan men just narrowly missed the 12th-ranked NJCAA team in the country NIACC, losing by only 17 points.
"It was amazing to watch," said Spartan Head Coach Trey Bruton. "I really enjoyed getting to watch both our teams perform like that, they did exactly what I knew they were capable of at this point, and the cool thing is we aren't done getting better!"
Bruton continued, "Not many other teams in the region have taken us seriously since our performance at the time trials early in the fall; I think we changed that on Friday."
Both the Spartan men's and women's teams are off this week before jumping back into action on Sunday, Oct. 29, at the Region XI championships hosted by Iowa Central CC in Fort Dodge. The men have a chance to finish near the top, and the ladies, even after a slow start to the season, look capable of finishing in the middle of the pack.
