Men's Cross Country | 10/21/23 | 10:38 PM

Grand Rapids, Mich. – Carroll Cross Country placed 5^th out of 22 teams on the women's side and 11^th out of 27 teams on the men's side at the NAIA Great Lakes Challenge on Saturday.
 
For the women, the Saints surpassed No. 10 Cumberlands and maintained their position ahead of multiple other ranked teams. The race boasted 12 NAIA schools ranked in the Top 25 or receiving votes (RV), including Montana Tech and Rocky Mountain College who were 7^th and 9^th in the competition respectively.
 
"I was incredibly pleased with how the women performed and found joy in competing today," said Head Coach Shannon Flynn. "They really leaned into the cold, wet conditions and thrived on that adversity."
 
The men's race included 15 teams rated in the Top 25 or RV. The Saints fell to Conference foes Montana Tech and Rocky Mountain College who were 7^th and 8^th on the day.
 
"It wasn't our best performance in the men's race, but I'm proud of how quickly the guys were engaging in how we can improve moving forward," said Coach Flynn. "We'll be looking to respond to the bump in the road and use it to shape who we are for the rest of the season."
 
Individually, Isabelle Ruff placed in the Top 10 out of 189 runners. Nicole Morgen ran a personal record for 5k cross country despite wet, sloppy conditions. Zack Gacnik was the top placer for the men in 25^th in a race with 243 men.
 
Carroll moves to post-season with the Frontier Conference Championships in Great Falls, Mont. on Friday November 3.
 
Full results are available at the following link:
 
https://www.runnersedgeracetiming.com/results.asp

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