Sioux Falls, S.D. - The Concordia St. Paul men's and women's cross country teams kicked off the 2023 season under the lights at the Augie Twilight. The men captured eighth out of 32 teams while the women finished 23rd out of 29 teams. 

Nine NSIC teams competed in the men's four-mile race. CSP finished fifth among those nine teams and six NSIC teams finished in the top 10 with Augustana the highest finisher in fourth place.

Matthew Helser led the team placing 28th (out of 358) with a time of 20:17.10. This was his second-best career time at the Augie Twilight. Emmett Faltesek placed 42nd with a time of 20:29.30 which was 55 seconds better than his time last season.

Owen Erickson followed in 58th place with a time of 20:47.27. Matt Krummel tabbed 71st place after a five-second improvement from last season with a time of 21:00.40. Ethan Blischke rounded out the group with a time of 21:44.16, a 16-second improvement from last year at the Augie Twilight.

South Dakota State won the race placing first. St. Thomas (Minn.) followed in second place and Nebraska finished third.

Anna Sajdak was the top runner for the Golden Bears in the women's 5K race. She placed 176th (out of 358) with a time of 21:10.94 which was 2:26 seconds better than her run at the Augie Twilight last season. In her first career race, Madison Bryant followed close behind in 181st with a time of 21:14.98. 

Tess Houglum finished in 216th with a time of 21:51.58 which was a 24-second improvement from last season. Nyadio Chan finished 276th with a time of 22:52.72, a 55-second improvement from last season. 

Nebraska won the race finishing in first place as a team. South Dakota State came in at second place and Augustana was the NSIC's highest finisher in third place. 
 

Women's Individual Results
176^th Place – Anna Sajdak– 21:10.94 – Anna sets a new personal best mark, improving by one minute 24.27 seconds.  Anna runs the eighth fastest time by a CSP runner on the Yankton Trails Course.  Anna improved 107 places from the 2022 Augie Twilight race to the 2023 Augie Twilight race.  That was the second best place improvement of the 164 ladies who ran both races.  Of the 164 women who ran both the 2022 Augie Twilight and 2023 Augie Twilight, Anna had the greatest time improvement with her two-minute 25-second improvement from her 2022 Augie Twilight performance.
181^st Place – Madison Bryant – 21:14.98 – Maddy sets a new personal best mark.  Maddy runs the 10th fastest time by a CSP runner on the Yankton Trails Course.  Of the 34 first-year runners from the NSIC rosters running in the Augie Twilight, Maddy was the 14^th fastest first-year runner from the conference.
216^th Place – Tess Houglum – 21:51.58 – Tess sets a new personal best time, improving by 23.83 seconds from her 2022 Augie Twilight performance. 
275^th Place – Nyadio Chan – 22:52.72 – Nyadio sets a new personal best time, improving by 55 seconds from her 2022 Augie Twilight performance. 
282^nd Place – Kelsey Thelen – 23:00.42
293^rd Place – Olivia Cole – 23:19.26

Men's Individual Results
28^th place – Matthew Helser – 20:17.5 –Matthew runs the third-best four-mile race for a CSP runner.  Matthew sets a new best four mile time by a CSP junior.  Matthew now owns the best CSP four-mile time for a CSP freshman (2021), a CSP sophomore (2022) and a CSP junior (2023).  Matthew runs the third best time by a CSP runner at the Yankton Trails Course.
42^nd Place – Emmett Faltesek – 20:29.29 – Sets a new personal best record, improving by 55.4 seconds from his four-mile race last year at the Augie Twilight.  Emmett runs the fifth fastest four-mile race by a CSP runner.  Emmett runs the second fastest four-mile race by a CSP junior.  Emmett runs the fifth fastest race by a CSP runner on the Yankton Trails Course.  Of the 143 runners who ran both the 2022 Augie Twilight race and the 2023 Augie Twilight, Emmett had the 10th-best improvement of places as he improved 80 places from his 2022 performance.
58^th Place – Owen Erickson – 20:47.27 – Owen runs the eighth fastest four-mile race by a CSP runner.  Owen runs the fourth fastest four-mile race by a CSP junior.  Owen runs the eighth fastest four-mile race by a CSP runner on the Yankton Trails course.
71^st Place – Matt Krummel – 21:00.37 – Matthew runs the sixth fastest four-mile race by a CSP junior.  Matthew runs the 10^th fastest four-mile race by a CSP runner on the Yankton Trails course. 
131^st Place – Ethan Blischke – 21:44.6 – Sets a new personal best time, improving by 15.5 seconds from his 2022 Augie Twilight performance.  Ethan runs the sixth fastest four-mile race by a CSP sophomore. 
203^rd Place – Travis Andrews – 22:30.88
210^th Place – Josh Krummel – 22:36.30 – Josh sets a new personal best time.
297^th Place – Josh Sims – 24:13.23
301^st Place – Jose Nevarez-Ramirez – 24:20.45 – Jose runs a new personal best time, improving by 24.41 seconds from his 2022 Augie Twilight performance.
310^th Place – James Frigstad – 24:36.95