Dawson Community College cross country coach Ben Sandy has finalized the schedule for their 2018 inaugural season.  The cross country season will see five competitive regular season meets, plus cross country nationals.  The Buccaneers will be competing against a few community colleges, but mostly against NAIA and NCAA Division II colleges and universities.  Most race distances will be 8 kilometers for men and 5 kilometers for women.

Coach Sandy believes having a competitive schedule will help the Buccaneers become better competitors.  “Since running is a unique sport in terms of being both an individual and team sport, I want to instill in the athletes that they ‘can and have the ability’ to compete against anyone we race against.  Competing against larger schools will not only boost our confidence but will also make us better competitors, physically and mentally.  I’m excited for DCC cross country and I am looking forward to helping our student athletes reach their potential!”

DCC opens the season by racing at the Hardrocker Invitational, hosted by South Dakota School of Mines in Rapid City, SD.  The second meet of the season will be the Roy Griak Invitational held in Minneapolis, MN.  It will count as their Region XIII cross country meet since it will be the only time they face off with their regional foe, Bay College of Michigan.  The Bucs will proceed to race at the Jamestown Invite, in ND.  The following meet in Billings, MT will be a longer race distance for the Dawson harriers as this meet will be a regional preview meet for NCAA Division II teams with race distances of 10k for men and 6k for women.  The last regular meet of the season will be at the University of Montana-Western in Dillon, MT.  This meet will have a good showing of NAIA teams from the area.

Coach Sandy has signed several recruits for this new program, but is still looking for a few more motivated student-athletes to join the Buccaneer cross country men’s and women’s squads.