The University of Minnesota Duluth placed fourth among 12 schools at the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Cross Championships Saturday morning at the Yankton Trail Park in Sioux Falls, S.D. It represented the Bulldogs' highest conference finish since 2013 when they also took fourth.

Augustana University, with 28 points, locked down the the team title for the eighth year in a row while Minnesota State University-Moorhead (47 pts.), the University of Mary (100 pts.), UMD (105 pts.), Minnesota State University-Mankato (119 pts.) and Winona State University (165 pts.) were next.

"I was hoping for a Top 3 finish, but give credit to Mary -- they ran well today," said UMD head coach Paul Nisius. "The weather conditions today were excellent and you saw some fast times because of it."

Sophomore Isaac Overmyer was the Bulldogs' top finisher, placing seventh in a field of 107 with an 8K time of 24:44.49 en route to earning All-NSIC first team honors. That was quite an improvement from his NSIC debut one year ago when he came in 47th.  Four veterans accounted for the rest of UMD's points -- junior team captain Henry Jessen (12th place in 24:59.06, which landed him All-NSIC second team status), junior Grant Pulver (31st place; 25:33.15), sophomore Nick Lawson (32nd place; 25:33.46), and junior  team captain Cody Sedbrook (35th place; 25:37.61). Junior Blake Anderson (39th place; 25:50.95) and sophomore Adam Armbruster (42nd place; 25:55.02) rounded out the top seven placers for the Bulldogs. Augustana senior Glen Ellingsen claimed the individual title, clocking in at 24:10.96.

Following the meet, Pulver was the named the recipient of the first NSIC Elite 18 Award. The Chippewa Falls, Wis., native maintains a perfect 4.00 cumulative grade point average as a statistics and actuarial science major.

UMD will be back in Sioux Falls at the same venue on Nov. 5 for the NCAA Division II Central Regional championship.

2016 NSIC Championship Results