SIOUX FALLS, S.D. -- Both nationally-ranked Augustana cross country teams are set for their final tune-up of the season, tackling the Lewis Crossover on Saturday morning. The men's 8,000-meter race will begin at 9:45 a.m. followed by the women's 6,000-meter race at 10:30 a.m.

Complete action can be followed on GoAugie.com/Live and the GoAugie app, presented by The Original Pancake House. The app can be downloaded in the App Store or Google Play.

About the Race
The race will feature 52 different schools from 24 states and is used as a pre-national meet. 16 nationally-ranked teams or teams receiving national votes on the men's side and 12 nationally-ranked or teams receiving votes on the women's teams, including three of the top five, will be competing. In addition, five regionally-ranked men's programs and seven regionally-ranked women's programs that are not ranked nationally will be running. All eight regions will be represented amongst the 1100 total athletes. 

About the Vikings
The Augustana women enter the race standing at No. 4 in the national polls while the men hold the No. 30 spot. 

The women return to the course for the first time since Sept. 20 when they ran to victory at the Roy Griak Invitational. They scored 45 points as a team, the second lowest in the 38-year history of the event. Ella Bakken led the Viking pack, finishing third with a time of 22:14.6. Eleni Lovgren slotted in at seventh with a time of 22:34.7 while Aubrey Surage (23:07.4) and Ashley Overgaauw (23:10.2) paced each other, finishing 10th and 11th respectively. Taylor Melton rounded out the top-20 Vikings, coming in 19th after running a 23:39.7. 

For the men, they'll compete for the second consecutive weekend after running at the SDSU Classic. Ryan Hartman returns to the lineup for the first time since running to individual victory at the Griak Invitational. He finished the 8k with a time of 25:16.1, 13 seconds quicker than second place. It'll also be the first time out for the other top-five Viking finishers from that race. Brady Hogan posted a 15th place finish in 26:34.4. Kadin Groen ran the 8k in 26:50.9 to finish 28th and Daniel Street turned in a 29th place finish at a time of 26:51.7. Rounding out the Viking top five was Isaiah Anderson, whose 27:26.5 time placed him 54th.

The next action for the Vikings will be the NSIC Championships on Oct. 26, in Minot, North Dakota. The NCAA Central Regional will be in Joplin, Mo. on Saturday, Nov. 9, and the NCAA DII National Cross Country Championships will be held on Saturday, Nov. 23, in Sacramento, California.
 
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