Sievert collects GPAC weekly runner award
Concordia sophomore Ben Sievert was named GPAC/Hauff Mid-America Sports Men’s Cross Country Runner of the Week on Wednesday by the GPAC after turning in the top time among all GPAC and NAIA competitors at the Sept. 15 Woody Greeno Invite.
“I was pretty happy with it,” Sievert said of his performance. “I felt a lot better than I normally do for our first meet. We haven’t done a whole lot of speed yet in practice, so I was pleasantly surprised with how it went.”
Sievert clocked in at 26:10.3 in the 8K race to finish in 31st place overall among the field of 333 participants, with many coming from the GPAC as well as the NCAA Division I level.
“Ben had a good race. He kept moving up pretty much the whole race,” cross country head coach Kregg Einspahr said. “It was a good, solid race for him.”
Sievert’s performance fueled the Bulldogs to a 12th-place finish out of all 28 teams, eighth place out of 24 in the College Division and first among the seven GPAC programs in the field.
Sievert and the No. 18-ranked Bulldogs now look forward to the Griak Invitational on Sept. 29 at the University of Minnesota.