Liebl, Bison men aim for team title Saturday
All year, members of the NDSU men’s cross country team knew they could compete with top Division I schools but Oct. 14, others started to realize it too.
On that day, the Bison placed sixth out of 31 teams at the Jim Drews Invitational, hosted by Wisconsin-La Crosse.
In front of them in the standings were Division I powerhouses like Big Ten schools Wisconsin and Minnesota.
In addition to their sixth place finish, the Bison have placed in the top two in three out of the four events this fall.
The Bison hope to ride this momentum into Fort Wayne, Ind. on Saturday for the independent championships.
“ We have had successful races this year, up to this point, and that winning mentality going into the championships will help us gain momentum,” junior Greg Liebl said.
Liebl has been the anchor for the men’s team this year with three first-place finishes.
Liebl, a Montevideo, Minn. native, was named Division I Independent Runner of the Week twice this year.
Liebl’s toughest competition in winning an individual title will come from Chris Ferren-Cirino, a senior from California Davis.
Ferren-Cirino has been named Division I Independent Runner of the Week three times this season.
Ferren-Cirino is riding in a wave of confidence and momentum after breaking a school-record at the Santa Clara invitational.
As it stands, Liebl will have to be at his best if he wants to top Ferren-Cirino.
Liebl’s best time this season on an 8-kilometer course is 24:31.9 at the SDSU classic, while Ferren-Cirino has finished three races under 24:15.
As a team, many think the Bison are the favorites. Besides Liebl, the team’s other top runners add a lot of depth.
Even before the season, a coaches poll tabbed the Bison tops among Independent schools.
“ I think we have a pretty good shot of winning the team event at this year’s independent championships,” Liebl said. “One through six, our guys have to run strong in order for us to do this.”
In addition to it being the biggest event of the season, it is also the final event of its kind for the careers of two seniors who have been fixtures in the program for the last four seasons.
Seniors Jake Januszewski and Chad Bergan have had three and two top-10 finishes this season, respectively.
“ We all feel pressure to win for the graduating seniors, but I feel more pressure this year to help attain our first Division I Independent championship,” Liebl said.
Last year, SDSU nudged Cal Davis by just two points to win the event.
The Bison finished third overall at last year’s championships behind third and fourth place finishes from Liebl and James Schanandore, respectively.
NDSU assistant coach Ryun Godfrey said that doing well at this event has been a team goal since the end of last season.
“ Not too long after last year’s meet, we all knew that we could win this year’s championship event,” Godfrey said.