The Haskell Indian Nations University Cross Country teams hosted the HINU Billy Mills Classic and dominated the event. They placed first through seventh on the men’s side and second through second through fifth on the women’s side.
The Haskell women’s cross country team took the course first and Kaydence Platero got second in the Mike Daney 5k at a time of 21:29.14. This race saw Kiara Iron Heart get third, Kateri Dalby attain fourth on a personal record, Merisha Long place eighth, and Destiny Rich round out the top ten at tenth.
Platero on getting the team win on their home course,“It’s our home course so it’s something we know really well, something we take a lot of pride in it”, she continued on how the team is coming together, “We have a young team so we’re still hammering out a couple kinks but overall everyone put in the work for the past months so we’re just hoping to carry it out for the rest of the season.”
The winner of the Mike Daney 5k was Madison Modde, who is not from Haskell but did receive a necklace from Mike Daney as an award for placing first.
The Haskell men’s cross country team, ranked 18 in NAIA, took the course and dominated the Jerry Tuckwin 8k from start to finish with Ben Miera placing first at a time of 25:30.47. The event saw Haskell runners place second through seventh with those being Dyami Berridge, Brandon Levi, Preston Iron heart, Burt Miner III, Seth Lynch on a personal record, and Jerdan Crawford.
Berridge on the support they’ve received said it was “A good showing out for our family, friends, staff, and the community of Lawrence.”
Berridge on their game plan to defend their home course, “Our game plan was to get top ten and win it as a team”, later stating on where that confidence came from, “We had a good week, the ranking came in a couple days ago, it boosted our confidence.”
Berridge further commented on their ranking saying, “We’re not where we want to be right now with our ranking, we’re far from where we used to be”, but, for now, he said, “we’ll take it.”
Haskell Cross Country teams saw 11 Men place in the top 20 and 9 of the Women’s runners placing within the top 13. Meira and Platero both won Continental Athletic Conference Runner of the Week.
Platero on how the women’s team is meshing together, “We’re still feeling each other out, we got a lot of newcomers, we got a couple of upper classmen trying to figure out what we’re doing, we’re still early in the season.”, she continued on her assessment of how they did at the meet, “I think we did really good but we know there’s still room to grow.”
Haskell will be back on the Billy Mills Cross Country Course for the Continental Athletic Conference XC Championship on Nov 9.
Berridge expects to see fans for the Conference XC Championship saying, “That won’t be the only meet here, we come back in 4 weeks for our conference meet”, adding on he said, “the journey is not over, the next weeks to a month will be crucial for us.”
| Mike Daney 5k | Haskell Cross Country | Womens |
| Place | Athlete | Time |
| 2nd | Kaydence Platero | 21:39.14 |
| 3rd | Kiara Iron Heart | 22:01.42 |
| 4th | Kateri Dalby | 22:11.30 (PR) |
| 5th | Dayvany Whiteman | 22:48.07 |
| 8th | Merisha Long | 23:36.23 |
| 10th | Destiny Rich | 23:59.28 |
| 11th | Kye Ruff | 24:02.76 |
| 12th | Mariah Gordy | 24:16.95 |
| 13th | Maddie Wildcat | 24:29.43 |
| Jerry Tuckwin 8k | Haskell Cross Country | Mens |
| 1st | Ben Miera | 25:30.47 |
| 2nd | Dyami Berridge | 25:42.99 |
| 3rd | Brandon Levi | 25:45.84 |
| 4th | Preston Ironheart | 25:59.12 |
| 5th | Burton Miner | 26:14.99 |
| 6th | Seth Lynch | 26:18.92 (PR) |
| 7th | Daniel Crawford | 26:43.85 |
| 8th | Vince Madalena | 26:48.34 |
| 13th | Jayden Taken Alive | 27:07.51 (PR) |
| 16th | River Racine | 27:44.35 |
| 17th | Matthew Valencia | 27:46.18 (PR) |
| 20th | Colton SunRhodes | 28:37.93 |
