For Immediate Release 
Saturday, October 21, 2017
Championship Website

MOORHEAD, Minn. - Augustana won its ninth straight NSIC Men's Cross Country Championship as the Vikings scored 36 teams points after placing five runners in the top 11. The University of Sioux Falls had the top two finishers as Mason Phillips won the individual championship with a time of 24:06.6. Leading the way for the Vikings was Alex Kray, who placed third overall in the 8,000-meter race with a time of 24:48.00.

Phillips won the race by nearly 30 seconds as teammate Steven Brown was second with a time of 24:35.4.  Kray was third while MSU Moorhead’s Josh Young was fourth in a time of 24:50.3.   

For the Vikings, finishing behind Kray were Aaron Runge (5^th, 24:51.2), Logan Burns (8^th, 25:00.6), Sean Heaton (9^th, 25:02.2) and Jesus Urtusuastegui (11^th, 25:05.1).

Augustana’s Kray was also named NSIC Newcomer of the Year after his third place finish. The NSIC Newcomer of the Year is awarded to the highest placing student-athlete competing in their first year of cross country competition in the NSIC. 
The Vikings' Head Coach Tracy Hellman was voted by his peers as the NSIC Coach of Year for the ninth straight season.

The top ten finishers are named All-NSIC First Team while finishers 11-20 earn All-NSIC Second Team honors. 
 

NSIC Men’s First Team All-Conference
1	Mason Phillips	Sioux Falls	24:06.6
2	Steven Brown	Sioux Falls	24:35.4
3	Alec Kray	Augustana	24:48.0
4	Josh Young	MSU Moorhead	24:50.3
5	Aaron Runge	Augustana	24:51.2
6	Bashir Aidrus	SMSU	24:55.3
7	Derek Myers	U-Mary	24:55.5
8	Logan Burns	Augustana	25:00.6
9	Sean Heaton	Augustana	25:02.2
10	Caleb Burke	Minnesota State	25:03.8
NSIC Second Team All-Conference
11	Jesus Urtusuastegui	Augustana	25:05.1
12	Cody Sedbrook	Minnesota Duluth	25:08.5
13	Nadir Yusuf	MSU-Moorhead	25:10.7
14	Nathaniel Souther	Augustana	25:13.3
15	Austin Yardley	Minnesota State	25:13.3
16	Benjamin Allen	Concordia-St. Paul	25:20.7
17	Isaac Overmyer	Minnesota Duluth	25:22.0
18	Skylar DeJong	Augustana	25:26.4
19	Caleb Troe	Concordia-St. Paul	25:30.8
20	Nick Larsen	Augustana	25:31.7

 
UMD’s Grant Pulver was awarded the NSIC Elite 18 Award during the championship presentation. Pulver, who won the same award last year, had the highest cumulative GPA of all the student-athletes competed at the men’s championship. Pulver is a senior majoring in statistics and actuarial science and holds a 4.0 grade point average.  The Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin native finished 27th at the NSIC Championships in a time of 25:44.9.
 

2017 Men's Team Scores
1.	Augustana	36
2.	Minnesota Duluth	98
3.	Sioux Falls	109
4.	University of Mary	121
5.	Minnesota State	129
6.	MSU Moorhead	137
7.	Concordia-St. Paul	163
8.	Winona State	181
9.	SMSU	259
10.	Wayne State	263
11.	Northern State	321
12.	Minot State	377

Next action for NSIC Cross Country will be at the NCAA Regional, which will take place in Kearney, Nebraska on Saturday, Nov. 4th.  The NCAA DII National Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday, November 18 at Angel Mounds in Evansville, Indiana.  

For more info, including full results, photos and NSIC All-Conference performers go to the Championship Website.