The Southwestern men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Region XI Championship on Sunday, Oct. 29, 2017, at the Lakeside Municipal Golf Course in Fort Dodge. Lakeside hosted the Iowa High School State Cross Country Championships just a day earlier, and it is the same course that will be the site for this year's NJCAA Cross Country Championships.

Both Spartan teams did exceptionally well in the cool weather and proved their status as contenders in the region.

Southwestern's men came into the day ranked as the #24 team in the NJCAA, and determined to prove they were deserving of that ranking. The Spartans knew it would be a steep hill to climb to finish at the top of the Region with Iowa Central CC (NJCAA #1) and NIACC (NJCAA #12) leading the way, as well as Hawkeye CC and Iowa Western CC, who are each currently receiving votes in the national poll.

The pressure was there and the Spartans delivered a solid performance, finishing tied for third on the day.

"It was a great day to be a Spartan," Southwestern Head Coach Trey Bruton proudly stated.

The Spartans were led by honorable mention All-Region performances from Jalen Two Leggins, sophomore, of Crow Agency, MT, finishing 15th; Shane Breheny, freshman, of Greenfield, finishing 17th; Kevin Dietrich, sophomore, of Port Neches, TX, finishing 22nd; and Nathan Bradley, freshman, of State Center, finishing 25th. Rounding out the scoring five, in 26th place, was Phoenix Shadden, freshman, of Atlantic.

Finally, back at full strength, the Spartan women came out ready to perform collecting their first win over a full team this season beating DMACC by 34 points and finishing sixth in the nine-team region. The Spartan women were led by an outstanding season-best performance of 20:46.9 from Heather Jessen, freshman, of Baxter. This was good enough for 16th place overall and an honorable mention All-Region selection.

Coming in behind Jessen were Christina Stopak, freshman, of Albion, NE, finishing 26th; Jessica Beatty, freshman, of Creston, finishing 33rd; and Halie Dean, freshman, of Sidney, finishing 50th. Each of these individuals completed season-best performances. Rounding out the scoring five for the ladies, in 51st place, was BreAnn Rhodes, freshman, of Grand River.

"I couldn't be more pleased with our teams; considering where we started the season, no one really expected us to finish where we did," remarked Bruton. "We worked our butts off every day, kept believing in the training, and stayed confident that we really did belong."

As a team, the Spartan men just narrowly missed getting second place in the region, losing to NIACC, by only 18 points.

"We knew we had a shot at them and we gave it a good run, but ultimately fell just a little short," said Bruton. "We learned a few things we need to change and focus on these next couple of weeks, but we'll regroup and come back to surprise some people at the National meet."

The Spartan men's and women's teams are off this week but return back to action for the season finale at the NJCAA Cross Country National Championships on Saturday, Nov. 11, in Fort Dodge.