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N.D.(VCSUVikings.com) – The Valley City State University men’s cross country team took second place at the North Star Athletic Association Cross Country Championships held Friday in Jamestown.

Valley City State’s top five runners all finished in the Top 17 Friday as they improved from last place in 2016 to second place in 2017.

Despite facing falling snow, temps near 25 degrees and a wind of about 15 miles per hour, three of VCSU’s Top 5 runners ran season-best times, but it unfortunately wasn’t enough to keep up with Dickinson State which had five runners in the Top 11 and seven runners in the Top 18.

The Blue Hawks scored 43 points while VCSU took second with 66 points. Coming into Friday the conference championship was expected to be a battle between the Vikings and Blue Hawks. It turned into just that as runners from the two teams ran neck-and-neck for most of the race before Dickinson began to slowly take control.

Valley City State senior Dennis Gonzalez was the top Viking, taking 8th place with a time of 25:45. Louis Leon ran a personal record of 26:31 as he placed 12th. Dylan Olsontook 13th in 26:33. Orin Rambow (26:37) and Joe Celis (27:04) both ran season-best times as they placed 16th and 17th, respectively.

Aaron Springer (20th) and Zach Nelson (24) rounded out VCSU’s Top 7 runners.

Gonzalez was named All Conference for the second straight year after placing in the Top 10 on Friday.

Jamestown’s Matthew Young out-kicked Waldorf’s Nic Ganzeveld down the stretch as Young won his third straight individual conference title. The top four individuals advanced to the NAIA National Championships.