The Nighthawks traveled south to Logan, Utah today for the Steve T. Reeder Memorial Invite, hosted by Utah State University. Coming off a great performance last Saturday in Washington, the Nighthawks felt the droves of races, workouts, and sickness catch up to them a little bit this morning.

"We were hoping for more on both sides team-wise, but that's how it goes sometimes. The effort was there, but performances were a little off," said assistant coach Greg Mitchell. 

"Meets like this keep you humble and working hard, so it's not all negative. We've got two weeks until GNACs. I have no doubt we'll be ready to roll then," Mitchell added. 

On the women's side, sophomore Keelin Stewart claimed a season PR on her 5k time, crossing the line in 20 minutes, 41 seconds—the third finisher for the women's team. 

"This race was definitely a challenge: running off of tired legs from last Saturday's race in Walla Walla, our hard workout on Wednesday, and the increase in elevation today," Stewart said.

"However, it was such a great opportunity to push ourselves mentally and see some of the progress we've made throughout the season. I'm so grateful to have raced on a beautiful course with my teammates despite the injuries and sicknesses we've been facing.

"We're definitely all looking forward to our GNAC championship race coming up in two weeks where we will be ready to give it our best," Stewart said.

Morgan Erler finished the 5k race in 8th place in 18 minutes, 57 seconds, followed by Becca Darwood, Keelin Steward, Olivia Klein, and Jordan Gram. 

On the men's side, standout Sophomore Brody Kemble improved on his 7k time from a month ago by almost a whole minute, finishing the race in 21 minutes, 37 seconds. 

"This is a course that we ran last year and we knew it would be tough, but the team went out there today and competed against some really good competition," Kemble said.

"We have the GNAC championship meet next, and the team and I couldn't be more pumped. We're excited to head to Anchorage and represent NNU and be competitive as a team at conference."

"I'm looking forward to getting back to work these next two weeks as we prepare for that championship meet," added Kemble.

Ian Stockett, Carter Stedman, Aaron Heberlein, and Asher Ingram rounded out the scoring five. 

Head Coach Danny Bowman is excited for the GNAC championships coming up in a few weeks.

"After a tough week, we battled the best we could. Our focus is in two weeks! We are prepping and getting ready to compete well," said Bowman.

On Saturday, October 21st, the Nighthawks will enter the last frontier and compete in the GNAC Cross Country Championships in Anchorage, Alaska.