NORTH SIOUX CITY, S.D. – It was a great day for a race up in Sioux City, Iowa at the Morningside Invitational on Saturday. With temperatures in the mid-60s the Warriors took the course at the Adams Homestead and Nature Preserve located next to the banks of the Mississippi River.
Vivian Sanchez, making her season debut, paced the women’s team in the 5k. She ran a time of 19:08.50, placing 13th overall and 8th among NAIA runners. Teammate Madilynn Edwards joined her in the top half of the runners, placing 36th with a time of 20:46.57. Rounding out the Midland lineup was Emma Christianson (22:34.80), Erin Kahnk (23:30.33), and Jaden Donley (25:10.79). The Warriors placed 9th as a team with an improved time of over three minutes from their opener two weeks ago.
“The women had a strong showing, especially since only five out of eight of the runners competed this weekend,” said head coach Daniel Gerber. “We ended up ninth out of a field of 12 teams that competed. Vivian had a strong debut to her season.”
In the men’s 8k race the wind picked up a bit, gusting to near 15 mph at times, which factored into the times. Alex France was the top finisher for Midland, placing 26th with a time of 26:50.57. That time was over two minutes faster than his season debut at the Sunflower Opener.
Jose Gonzalez was close on his heels, finishing 36th in the field of 120 runners. He had a time of 27:17.17. Christian McCafferty joined them in the top half of the standings with a time of 28:02.97, good for 56th. Also running for the Warrior men on the day were Daniel Olson (28:51.56), Ross McMahon (29:42.30), and Gabe Becher (30:10.34). As a team Midland placed 6th overall out of 11 teams competing with a time of 2:20:44.57 from their top five runners, nearly seven minutes faster than their first race of the year.
“Alex led our team and had a personal best in the 8k today,” commented Coach Gerber. “It was his first sub-27 time. Christian, Gabe both had personal best as well as our whole team saw improvements in their times. We are starting to see the effects of the training, as everyone put together a quality race this weekend.”
Midland will get a chance to show improvement on race day in a week’s time as they take to the course in Crete on September 26. They’ll be competing in the Dean White Invitational hosted by Doane University.
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