Two more Minot State teams open their season this weekend as the Beaver men’s and women’s cross-country teams head south to race in the Marauders Invitational hosted by the University of Mary at McDowell Dam on Friday, Sept. 5.

An exciting time for the Beaver runners, who have spent their summer putting in long miles in the heat, preparing for this first day of competition.

“We’ve been training all summer and you just get itching to go because we haven’t raced in a while,” Minot State head coach Steven Schultz said. “It’s a familiar course; they all enjoy racing. It’s pretty flat and the ground is usually pretty hard, so it really makes for some fast times. We really enjoy racing down there.”

Action is scheduled to get underway with the women racing on a 6-kilometer course at 4 p.m., then the men take off on an 8K course starting at 4:45 p.m.

The meet is the first of four regular-season events this fall for the Beavers prior to the Championship season, which starts with the NSIC Championship on Oct. 24 hosted by Wayne State.

The first of at least two championship meets, as the Beavers also compete at the NCAA Central Region Championship on Nov. 8 in Joplin, Mo., looking to earn possible berths to the NCAA National Championship in Kenosha, Wisc., on Nov. 22.

The NSIC Championship will be the big focus for the Beavers and Coach Schultz, who is cautiously optimistic about Minot State’s place in the league race.

“Until people start racing, it’s hard to know for sure, but I think based on the growth I’ve seen from the athletes on the roster and who we’ve lost, I think we’re roughly in the same spot that we were last season,” Schultz said.

For the women, success will depend on some talented returners in Bailey Wride and Emery Smith leading the way. Wride, a junior from Kalispell, Montana, is a 2-time NSIC Champion in track and field who finished 24th at the 2024 NSIC Championship, finishing the 6K course in 22 minutes, 4.6 seconds.

Smith is a senior from North Salt Lake, Utah, who finished 85th at the NSIC Championships in 23:41.4.

“They’re shooting for some All-Conference medals, and I do think that’s pretty realistic,” Schultz said.

On the men’s side, returning junior from Grand Forks, North Dakota, Jake Jenkins, leads the way.

“He’s coming in really fit, and we started to see some things click for him at the end of the track season,” Schultz said. “I feel like he had a really solid 10K at our (outdoor) conference meet.”

Last fall, Jenkins was 94th at the NSIC Championships in a collegiate-best time of 26:30.3 on the men’s 8K course.

He’ll have plenty of returning support in seniors Camden Jasmin and Peyton Tuhy, and junior Holter Bridwell, who all had strong track seasons after being slowed in the fall last year by injuries.

And Coach Schultz expects a nice impact from local product and true freshman Nolan Berglof from Minot High School.

“I like what I’ve seen from him so far,” Schultz said of Berglof. “It’s one of those things, he’ll have to get used to what the college game is all about, just get used to the intense training and everything like that, but so far, so good.”

Berglof comes to Minot State after finishing 81st at the North Dakota State A Cross County Championships last fall in 18:00.2 for a 5K course.