WAYNE, Neb. – Minnesota State men's cross country took third place at the 2025 NSIC Championships Friday at Wayne Country Club in an 8K meet. Freshman Luis Pfister (Ottobeuren, Germany) led the Mavericks with an eighth place individual time of 25:25.00. Fellow freshman Jack Kendall (Virginia, Minn.) crossed the line 13^th (25:58.98) and sophomore Dominic Ripperda (Sioux Falls, S.D.) was 15^th (26:07.74).
 
Augustana took the team title with five runners inside the top ten (2,3,5,7,10) and a total of 27 points. Jared Gregoire helped MSU-Moorhead place second as a team. His time of 24:57.92 was the top individual mark. MSU-Moorhead narrowly eclipsed MSU with 73 points. The Mavericks posted a score of 77, ahead of UMary (123) and Minnesota Crookston (175).
 
Biruk Killeen finished 21^st for the Mavericks (26:17.01), followed by Maquanet Collins (22^nd, 26:17.83), Grant Mayers (23^rd, 26:19.07), Jacob Bennett (29^th, 26:25.42), Wallace Kigen (31^st, 26:28.34), Erek Ross (34^th, 26:36.34), Jonathan Owen (46^th, 25:55.31) and Jaden Miller (52^nd, 27:12.57).

"Our guys ran with guts today in a deep conference race," said head coach Ben Held. "Even with one of the youngest teams in the NSIC, we had three guys earn All-Conference, three in contention for the win through 5K, and ended up with four inside the top-20, only four points behind second place MSU-Moorhead. We're excited to sharpen up ahead of Regionals to have our best race of the season when it counts."
 
The Mavericks improved from a sixth place finish among 13 teams last fall. It was also the best mark since taking second place in 2022. Next for MSU men's cross country is the NCAA Regional Meet, set for Saturday, November 10 at 11:15 a.m. at Tom Rutledge Cross Country Course in Joplin, Mo.