The Northern Kentucky University Men’s and Women’s cross country teams finished third and fifth respectively at the Queen City Invitational Sept. 6 at A.J. Jolly Park in Alexandria.

Sophomore Drew Harris was the top finisher for the Norse, placing third overall in the men’s competition with a time of 15:44.30. Harris was the top Division II runner in the race. Breylen Derrick finished 22nd for the Norse at 16:20.80 and Matthew Shoulta finished 25th at 16:27.45.

“Drew (Harris) had a very good day and he and his team mates will improve a great deal as the season continues,” head coach Steve Kruse said. “We have six guys who are capable of being right next to Drew on any given day.”

The men’s team didn’t finish to the expectations of Kruse.

Our men’s team usually runs as a pack and after the first mile our pack slipped away to a non-competitve position thus taking us out of the race for the victory,” Kruse said. “We are capable of much, much better races and there will be an improvement in the weeks to come.”

Xavier University’s Tommy Kauffmann won the men’s race with a time of 15:37.74. He beat out Randy King of the University of Cincinnati, who finished at 15:39.86.

In the women’s race, Jenna Siemer was the Norse’s best runner, finishing in 20th place at a time of 19:41.35. Junior Janice Laker was next for the Norse, finishing 29th at 20:06.59.

“Our women are struggling a bit right now for various reasons,” Kruse said. “However, there were much more positives in Saturday’s race than negatives.”

The two seniors on the women’s team didn’t have the type of race that Kruse was looking for.

“Our two seniors, Rose Morgan and Kira Cooper struggled a bit, but will both improve in the races to come,” he said.

Lilian Jelimo of the University of Cincinnati blew away the rest of the field, finishing over thirty seconds before fellow Bearcat Tamara Masters, at 17:59.26.

The Bearcats dominated both the men’s and women’s races, finishing first with 28 and 27 points respectively. Xavier University also had a good showing, finishing second overall in the men’s and third overall in the women’s. The University of Dayton finished second in the women’s with four runner’s finishing in the top ten.

Click Here for results on the men’s team.

Click Here for results on the women’s team.