ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's and women's cross country teams head to Wayne, Nebraska this weekend for the 2022 NSIC Cross Country Championships. The 2022 conference meet will take place in Wayne, Nebraska on Saturday, November 5 at the Wayne Country Club, hosted by Wayne State College. The men's 8,000-meter race is scheduled for 11 a.m. and the women's 6,000-meter race will follow at noon. The women's race will have 16 teams competing while 14 teams will run in the men's race. Check out the NSIC Championship info page for directions, course information, live media links, and links to live results.

Competition within the teams has been fun to watch this fall with both the men's and women's team having three runners lead the team in meets this season.

For the men, Matthew Helser won the opening race at the Augie Twilight, then Owen Erickson took the middle three of five meets, and Matt Krummel led the Bears in the final meet of the regular season at the Waxlax Invitational. 

On the women's side, freshman Makayla Harmer led the team at the first three meets and finished in second place for the Golden Bears in the final two meets. In the fourth meet at the Tori Neubauer Invite, Kelsey Thelen finished as the top CSP runner for the first time since the 2021 NCAA Central Region Championships. Avery Sivonen rounded out the trio of race leaders for Concordia, finishing top 50 and first for the team.

Both cross country teams have had seven scoring runners so far this season, battling through injuries, recoveries, and seeing several runners develop over the season. Aside from Helser, Erickson, and Krummel, the Concordia men have had scoring contributions from Emmet Faltesek, Ethan Blishke, Travis Andrews, and James Frigstad. The seven scoring CSP women going into the NSIC Championships are Harmer, Thelen, Sivonen, Tess Houglum, Anna Sajak, Jaid Perry, and Olivia Cole.

As a team, Augustana is the favorite to win the men's and women's races as they both look to defend their 2021 NSIC championship crowns. The Vikings are the only men's NSIC team ranked in the Division II top 25 (15th), as well as the only ranked NSIC men's team in the Central Region top-5 (4th).

The Augustana women are currently ranked No. 5 in the national top-30 and No. 1 in the Central Region top-5. The Viking are not the only NSIC women's team nationally and regionally. Minnesota Duluth, Minnesota State, and Winona State are all ranked in the top-20 and ranked No. 2, 3, and 4 respectively in the Central Region top five.

LAST TIME OUT

The Concordia-St. Paul men's and women's cross country teams competed in the Bob Waxlax Invitational hosted by St. Cloud State. The Golden Bear men took fourth place with 89 points and the women finished in seventh with 197 points.

Matt Krummel finished as the top runner for Concordia for the first time this season, breaking the CSP course record set in 2018. The sophomore set a career record time, clocking in at 25:29.20, and finishing in 10th place. It was the second fastest 8K time ever by a Concordia sophomore, six seconds behind the record set by Allen in 2017.

Fellow sophomore Owen Erickson also had a career best 8K run and was just three seconds behind Krummel (25:32.38), finishing in 11th. Erickson's time broke the previous CSP course record by 17 seconds and was the third best ever for a Concordia sophomore. 

Emmett Faltesek was the third Golden Bear runner to cross the finish line, placing 17th with a time of 26:13.41, breaking his career record by over a minute. Ethan Blischke and Travis Andrews finished back-to-back to round out the scoring runners for Concordia, with Blischke grabbing 29th place with a time of 27:42.19 and Andrew taking 30th  with a time of 27:56.38. 

The Golden Bear women were led by Avery Sivonen with a 6K time of 24:23.30, good for 40th overall. It was a personal best and the eighth fastest all-time on the course by a CSP runner. Freshman Makayla Harmer's time of 24:39.83 also cracked the top 10 all-time on the course for the CSP women. It broke her personal record by 21.1 seconds and put her in 48th overall in the field of 78. 

Kelsey Thelen finished as the third CSP runner across the line. clocking a time of 24:56.5 and taking 53rd place. Tess Houglum finished as the number four runner for the Bears, grabbing 65th place with a time of 25:46.2, a career best.

Anna Sajdak capped off the five scoring runners for Concordia, setting a new personal record time of 25:56.2, improving by 35.4 seconds from her time at the 2021 Lucian Rosa Invitational and finishing in 69th.