Men place seventh; women eighth

The men’s and women’s cross-country teams made their mark in Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championship meet this past weekend. Coming in seventh place was the men, along with the women finishing eighth place overall.

MSU’s Jacob Jensen had a remarkable performance on the trails, finishing in the top ten out of the entire conference competition along with earning the Elite 18 award, an academic NSIC recognition that the junior has received twice now. Jensen crossed the finish line with a time of 25:28.51 and Trent Holiday, another big name for the Beavers, finished the 8,000-meter race in 37th place.

Holiday was followed closely by freshman Grayson Bonilla who finished with a t8ime of 27:10.38, good enough for 44th in the race. The rest of the field for the Beavers was completed by Freshman, Gavin Jorgensen with a time of 27:32.70 for 54th place. Camden Jasmin who finished with a time of 28:20.83 good enough for 72nd, Casey McMahon who finished with a time of 29:25.69 good enough for a place of 85th, and Cael Lorenz who finished with a time of 29:37.26 good enough to round out the Beavers at 86th place.

The MSU women were led by freshman Caitlin Cornell and Alicia Murillo who finished with times of 23:25.84 and 23:53.39, respectively, good enough for 30th and 38th place in the meet. Freshman Paulette Dominguez finished with a time of 23:56.30, good enough for 40th place. The Beavers were rounded out by junior Lauren Reeves, who finished 70th with a time of 25:24.55, followed closely by freshman Emily Hansen who finished with a time of 26:13.16, good enough for 79th place in the NSIC conference championship meet. Freshman Sidra Sadowsky rounded out the Beavers in the conference championship meet with a time of 29:10.08, good for 99th place in the NSIC meet.

The Beavers will spend the next two weeks focusing on their preparation for the NCAA Central Region Championships in Joplin, Missouri on November 6th.

Jensen earns league’s top academic honor, named Elite 18 for second time

For the second time in his collegiate career, Jensen earned the NSIC’s top academic honor as he repeated as NSIC Elite 18 Award winner. To earn the award, a student-athlete much hold the highest GPA with the most credits earned among the 14 men’s cross-country schools competing at the NSIC Championships.

“I couldn’t think of anyone more deserving than Jacob to be named the Elite 18 Award winner at the NSIC Championships,” said Mark Del Monaco, Minot State’s director of cross-country. “Jacob embodies all this award stands for, being a fantastic student and great athlete. It is a privilege to get to coach him day in and day out and I don’t think we could ask for a better representative of this program or this University.”

Jensen was presented the award during the post-championship ceremony at the NSIC Cross Country Championships, which were held at Wayne Country Club in Wayne, Neb., and hosted by Wayne State College.

Along with being named the NSIC Elite 18 Award winner, Jensen also earned NSIC First Team honors finishing 10th overall in 25 minutes, 28.51 seconds, on the 8-kilometer championship course Saturday.

“I ran the best race I’ve run all year; finally put it all together,” Jensen said of his performance in Saturday’s Championships.

Four Minot State student-athletes have now earned the NSIC Elite 18 Award at seven separate NSIC Championships. While Jensen is a two-time winner of the award for men’s cross-country, Minot State’s Caleb Fornshell won once for baseball, Andrea Franco won the award twice for soccer and once for women’s indoor track and field, and Jordan Will has won the award once for football.

Jensen is a junior majoring in computer science and holds a 4.00 GPA. The Belcourt native finished 26th as a freshman at the 2019 NSIC Cross Country Championships with a time of 27:14.9. Early this season he picked up his first collegiate individual title when he won the 8K Wildcat Classic in a time of 26:36.96.