The Hesston College women’s cross country team concluded their long fall season in El Dorado (Kan.) at the 2016 NJCAA Division I Women’s Cross Country Championship, finishing 29th out of 37 teams.

More than 300 runners representing more than 50 schools competed at the meet hosted by Butler County Community College. Freshman Sierra Broce (Goddard, Kan.), as she has all year except once, was Hesston’s top runner finishing 127th in a time of 20:49 on the challenging course – Prairie Hills Golf Course. Team co-captain Rene Buckwalter (Wellman, Iowa) ran her best race of the year and was The Larks second runner at 21:14, good for 166th. Following closely and finishing next among Larks runners was freshman Sadie Winter (Newton, Kan. – 21:35/188th) and Katelyn Kilmer (Goshen, Ind. – 21:47/202nd). Freshman, Savannah Bontrager, (Milford, Nebraska) who ran her best race of the year was the Larks 5th runner (23:45/269th) and was followed closely by sophomore team co-captain Eva Dwyer (Goshen, Ind. – 24:10/281st).

“After nearly 1,000 miles traveled and a grueling three months of summer preseason, it was good to see these runners finish with respectable results,” Coach Gerry Sieber commented. “I thought that our women ran very well at the national meet.”