September 5, 2025
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. – Dakota State (S.D.) men's cross country opened the 2025 season 'under the lights' at Yankton Trails Park, racing against a stacked field at the NCAA Division II
Augustana Twilight Meet. The Trojans placed
seventh out of 25 teams, scoring 262 points with a team average of 20:17 over the four-mile course
Dakota State posted the highest place finisher in men's cross country program history in the Augustana (S.D.) Twilight.
Team Breakdown
DSU packed well, placing its top five runners within less than a minute of each other. Their total time of
1:41:27 secured them finish ahead of NCAA Division II Jamestown, Gustavus Adolphus (Minn.) (Division III), and Wayne State (Neb.) (Division II). Only NCAA DI South Dakota State (perfect 15 points), along with strong DII and NAIA squads like Augustana (Division II), Minnesota State (Division II), Concordia (Neb.), Doane (Neb.), and Nebraska Wesleyan (Division III), finished higher.
Dakota State was the top Frontier Conference place finisher in the meet. Bellevue (Neb.), who received votes (RV) recognition in the NAIA Men's Cross Country Coaches' Top 25 national poll, finished 13
th with 360 points.
Trojan Standouts
- Lane Henrichs (Jr.) led the way for DSU, running 19:56.80 (personal record) for 49th overall in the 300-plus–runner field.
- Evan Armstrong (Jr.) followed closely in 20:01.73 (personal record), good for 54th.
- Marc Corpus (Jr.) was just two seconds back at 20:03.96 (58th).
- Benjamin Strunk (So.) contributed a solid effort at his 4-mile personal record time of 20:39.37 (112th).
- Finley McConniel (Fr.), in his collegiate debut, closed the scoring five with a time of 20:45.25 (129th).
Additional Dakota State results included
Blake Schmiedt (Sr.) at personal record time of
20:57.68 (149
th),
Tyler Nicke (So.) at
21:08.50 (169
th),
Solomon Carter at
21:23.87, Holden Jelen (Fr.) at 4-mile personal record time of
21:38.69 (213
th),
Logan Recoy at
21:40.
43 (personal record), and
Jonah Thiele at
21:47.84.
David Brock (Fr.) clocked a time of
23:00.62, Kaiden Akey in
23:45.57 (personal record), and
Lucas Harr in
24:26.17.
Looking Ahead
Dakota State heads to Sioux Center, Iowa, for the Sunflower Open next Saturday (Sept. 13). The men's race is tentatively scheduled for 10:45 a.m. on the campus of Dordt (Iowa).