Beaver Cross Country opens 2021 season Friday at Dragon Twilight

The Bemidji State University cross country program travels to Moorhead, Minn., on Friday, Sept. 10 to open the 2021 season at the Dragon Twilight Meet. The Beavers will begin the 4,000-meter race at 7:30 p.m. from the Bluestem Center for the Arts.

After 671 days since its last meet at the NCAA Central Region Championship, Bemidji State will feature a squad of four returning letter winners and eight newcomers. Senior Ryne Prigge returns as the team’s most experienced runner and holds the cross country program records in the 4K and 5K races. She also ranks second all-time at BSU in the 6K and finished 47th at the 2019 NCAA Central Regional, with a personal record 6K time of 22:48.90, which ranks as the highest finish for a Beaver at the meet since at least 2002.

Interview with Prigge Interview here

Freshman Zoey Mills enters the season as the BSU Athlete to Watch, as announced with the 2021 Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference Preseason Coaches’ Poll. Mills, a native of Blackduck, Minn., will run in her first season of cross country with BSU after competing in indoor and outdoor track during 2021. She set the outdoor program’s fifth-best time in the 5K with a time of 19:05.25.

The Beavers were voted to finish 12th in the 2021 NSIC Preseason Coaches’ Poll with 69 total points. BSU was voted just behind Minnesota State University Moorhead and St. Cloud State University in a tie for 10th with 103 points.