By Dylan Whitley, Senior Reporter
The Northwestern cross county teams went stampeding into Missouri during the weekend.
The Rangers traveled Joplin to compete in the Missouri Southern Stampede for their third race of the season on Saturday.
The mens and women’s teams competed. The men had nine runners competing, while the women’s team had seven Rangers racing.
The women’s team finished in 26th place. Coach Sterlin Broomfield said he is excited for the direction the women’s team is heading, but he is hoping to make some improvements.
“The women competed very hard,” Broomfield said. “They are starting to become more hungry and are wanting to be successful. There is still a lot of work to be done on that side of the team.”
The men had three runners finish in the Top 200, which helped land the team a 21st-place finish at the meet.
One of those runners was junior Davin Soto. This is his first year at Northwestern after spending two years running for Central Arizona College. Soto placed 162nd, but he said he is confident he can improve on that.
“To be honest I could have run a little better,” Soto said. “Right now, I’m dealing with some injuries, so hopefully I can get in shape soon and run way faster than I’m running now.”
Soto also said he hopes to improve on his personal record from his junior college career, which was 25 minutes and 50 seconds. He said he is hoping to be in the low twenty-fives this season.
Broomfield said the men’s team did an OK job, but they did not execute the way he would like them to. He said he hopes they will buy into the process and continue to get better.
Going forward, Broomfield said he is focused on having the runners race smarter and packing up together better during races.
Running in packs can help the team get fewer points. When runners are together, they are less spread out, reducing the likelihood they will get many points if they fall farther behind.
“Our women are doing really well at packing up together,” Broomfield said. “But they need to be packed up and a little bit faster. The men are pretty spread out and need to get more tight during races.”
Broomfield said he looks forward to seeing runners get faster. With the women’s team being so young, the runners have a lot of opportunities to improve.
With the men’s team being older, Broomfield said he hopes to get them to “click” on the same level and be more competitive.
“The women can be competitive, too,” Broomfield said. “But the men just have a little bit more edge just because of them being older. They understand the running more than compared to when you’re younger and still trying to figure out the program.”
Soto has his goals for this season set on the postseason races, both conference and nationals.
“I know we can compete pretty hard,” Soto said. “Together we will get in shape, and we will be ready.”
The next race for the Rangers will be at Bethel College Saturday in North Newton, Kansas.