CEDAR RAPIDS, IOWA. – This past Saturday the Midland University cross country teams competed in their fourth meet of the season in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Seminole Stampede hosted by Mount Mercy. The teams ran on the same course where the NAIA National Championship will be held in the spring. At the start of race time, temperatures were in the 70s. The course, which was primarily down in a valley limited any wind on the day. It was primarily flat grass with a couple of hills.
For the men’s team, they ran an 8K and placed 15th out of 25 teams. Midland had three of their five runners finish in the top 100 out of 224 runners. Jose Gonzalez led the way for the Warriors finishing at 48th (27:19.8), Alex France finished in 66th place (27:36.5) and Christian McCafferty finished in 78th (27:51.1). To round out the other runners for the men’s team was Ross McMahon (29:36.9) and Gabe Becher (30:53.2).
“This is one of, if not the biggest collegiate meet in the country this year,” said head coach Daniel Gerber. “To have a championship-caliber meet was exciting and much needed for the athletes. It was great to see some of the best competition in the region and NAIA, and we handled ourselves very well. Jose led the way for us. With Alex and Christian, they formed a strong top three that were only separated by roughly 30 seconds.”
The women’s team ran a 5K and placed 16th out of 25 teams. Midland had a total of seven runners with three finishing in the top 100 out of 217 runners. Vivian Sanchez-Gutierrez was the top runner for the Warriors in 26th finish with a time of 19:21.0. Madilynn Edwards finished in 46th place (20:04.1) and Myia Johnson finished 67th (20:23.6). The final runners for Midland were Emma Christianson (23:23.6), Erin Kahnk (24:08.5), Jaden Donley (26:21.4), and Jaineily Ortiz (26:52.5).
“Vivian continues to have an outstanding season, as she led the way for the women again,” Coach Gerber said. “The top three were all strong, as Madilynn was our number two this week, and Myia Johnson our number three.”
Midland will have two weeks to prepare for their last regular-season race at the Mount Marty Invite. The race will take place on October 24 in Yankton, South Dakota.
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