NORTHFIELD, Minn . -- The George Fox cross country team took the 20 athletes who qualified out of Minnesota for the NCAA Pre-National Championships. Out of the 35 teams, the Bruin women finished in 13th place overall, with a score of 411, and the men finished 18th, with a score of 561. 

Top Performances
For the women, Senior Breanna Schmidt showed out at the annual "Running of the Cows" and marked an impressive performance for Fox, earning a spot in the top 10 in a field filled with All-Americans: 21:38.4, ninth place.

Chloe Cook was next on the boards, and though not too far behind Schmidt, a mass of competitors put her in 45th place, with 22:24.6. 

Hope Bridge finished 22:58.6, 107th place; Reese Borchert, 123rd, with 23:08.6. Freshman Claire Matthews made her first pre-national appearance, running 23:28.8 (167th). Morgan Thompson tracked in 169th, 23:29.2, with a performance that head coach Mike Wilson said "carried the mid-pack."

Another freshman was next for Fox, Alana Rebar, who's time of 23:27.1 was good for 183rd. Karina Rodriguez ran 23:57.4 (226th), Owyhee Harguess had 24:17.3 (253rd), and Natalie Oathout ran 24:20.4 for 257th to finish the top seven finishers for the Bruins.

On the men's side, Caden Hildenbrand showed his senior status and paved the way in 22nd place, 25:03.1. 

Westin Madden followed for the Bruins, 25:51.0, putting him out at 120th. Caleb Hawkins, the only freshman for the men, came in right behind with 25:51.8, 123rd. 

Andrew Dewar found 173th, 26:15.7. Carson Stockwell ran a personal best of 26:15.9 (174th). Makai Peak finished with 26:32.4, 203rd. Nate Hamilton got a time of 26:34.2, 206rd. Jefferson Smith ran 26:46.0 (228th), and Drew Baker was right on his trail, 26:46.1 (230rd). Issac Montanes brought up the rear with 27:55.1, 299th. 

The women earned a collective 411 points to slot them in 13th place. Williams took first place with a low 79, and individually Haley Schoenegge of Vassar took the prize, 21:07.1. For the men, they got 18th place, 561 points. Wartburg found first, 110, and Isaiah Hammeand contributed to their winning score, running 24:05.1. In total, the Bruins competed against 17 ranked teams on the men's side, and 19 on the women's.

Coach's Thoughts
"Overall, I was pretty pumped with how we did on the women's side," Bruin head coach Mike Wilson said," We have several things to clean up, and we can run better, but we showed we can compete on the national stage. For the men, we probably came in ranked 20th or so in the field, and we finished 18th. So, overall we knocked off a few teams that were ranked ahead of us.

However, I think we are a lot better than we ran today. We have to show up big on these sorts of stages, and we just didn't today. No excuses. We have to be better. We can be, so we'll have to show that as we get into the later season. This team competes so well late in the year, so we have to stay on that build."

What Happens Next
The Bruins will get back to local competitions with the George Oja Invitational in Salem, Ore. on Saturday, October 17th, with women to run at 10 a.m. and men at 10:45 a.m.