Cross Country | 09/04/2021

ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Fiona Smith missed out on her first collegiate cross country season because of the COVID19 pandemic. Saturday morning, in her first collegiate race with the College of Saint Benedict cross country team, she etched her name in the team's history books.
 
Smith – who set five school records during the indoor and outdoor track and field seasons in 2021 – set the cross country program's 6K record in her first meet with the team. She finished in 22:03.3 – four seconds faster than Leah Wurm's school-record time of 22:07, set in 2004. That time was also good for first place individually at the triangular meet with St. Cloud State and Trinity Bible College.
 
The Bennies finished first as a team in their first cross country meet since November 2019. CSB scored 19 points after placing seven runners in the top 10. SCSU finished second with 41 points and Trinity Bible took third.
 
Junior Emily Demorett, senior Tracy Renier and sophomore Bridget Tetmeyer finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Demorett just missed earning a spot in the top 50 in program history as she took third in 24:16.8 – nearly a two-minute personal-best time. Renier just missed her PR after finishing fourth in 24:24.8, and Tetmeyer took fifth in 24:43.7 in her first collegiate race.
 
Sophomore Keiley Maahs (sixth, 25:03), sophomore Elise Yeager (eighth, 25:25.9) and first year Kalli Smith (10^th, 25:37.2) also finished in the top 10 for the Bennies. First year Lucy Jagoe finished 13^th in 25:56.3, and first year Natalie Lieser rounded out the top 15 in 15^th with a time of 26:10.1.
 
Saint Benedict returns to action Saturday, Sept. 11, when it heads to Decorah, Iowa, for the Luther Invite.