Lawrence, Ks. -- The Minnesota State Cross Country teams competed in the NCAA Pre-Nationals today at Rim Rock Farm in Lawrence, Kansas. The men's team finished 12th overall while the women's team place ninth. Sophie Baker was the best finisher across both teams, placing ninth overall in the women's 6K.

The NCAA Championships will be hosted at Rim Rock Farm, so the Mavericks received valuable experience on a course they will compete on again later this season. 

Men's CC:  

The men's team kicked off the event at 9:30 a.m. competing in the 8K, Luis Pfister was the Mavericks best finisher for a third consecutive time placing 27th overall with a time of 25:02.1. Pfister continued his strong start to the season while Jack Kendall finished second best for the Mavericks in 42nd with a time of 25:14.6. 

Erek Ross (65), Ephraim Staley (73), Jonathan Owen (77), Isaac Rasmussen (79), and Dominic Ripperda (92) also finished within the top 100, helping MSU rack up 261 points as they finished 12th out of 15 teams. 

Women's CC: 

The women's team had a strong outing during the 6K that began at 10:15 a.m., led by Baker, who continued her impressive season finishing eighth overall with a time of 21:17.0. Baker has also finished first for the Mavericks in all three competitions this season. Mileena Sullivan was the next best MSU finisher, placing 35th with a time of 22:22.3. 

Hayden Anderson (49), Hannah Huza (79) and Jayna Lamping (104) rounded out the top five team finishers while Madison Wolle (114), Ainsleigh Lehmann (137), and Lizzy McCann (138) also had some of their strongest performances of the year. As a team, the Mavericks collected 248 points en route to comfortably finishing ninth out of the 18 teams that competed. 

Both teams will be idle next weekend as they prepare to compete at Winona State on Oct. 23. The competition will take place in West Salem, Wis., and is the last event before the NSIC Championships on Nov. 7 at Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls, S.D.