NORTH SIOUX CITY, Iowa -- All four members of the Bruin women's cross country team running in today's Briar Cliff Invite came away with season-best times. This was the fifth-consecutive weekend of racing for the Bruins as a very deep and talented field lined up at the Adams Nature Preserve in North Sioux City, S.D. on a perfect day for racing (50 degrees and calm winds).
Freshman Lorelei Hayden returned to the lineup after missing the last three meets and posted the best time of the day for the Bruins, running 20:04.9 placing her 59th among 155 runners. Fellow freshman Taylor Caba continued her improvement coming in 106th at 21:28, cutting thirty seconds from her previous best. Dayana and Diana Montano-Salama both posted large improvements of about a minute, finishing in 24:31 and 25:47, respectively.
Head Coach Craig Christians was encouraged by the performances from the women that he saw today. "It's all about going faster over five kilometers (3.1 miles) and all of our women did that today. It was great to see Lorelei back in action and almost join the sub-20 club and it was also exciting to see Taylor go under 22 for the first time. Dayana and Diana are coming around and had big improvements today."
The Bruin women were unable to score a complete five-person team. The meet was won by the NAIA's sixth-ranked Dordt Defenders, scoring 35 points and placing four runners in the top seven. Concordia (receiving votes in the latest NAIA poll) were runners-up.
The Bruins return to action on Saturday, October 24 when they travel to Yankton, S.D. for the Mount Marty Invitational.
