MOORHEAD, Minn. - Bemidji State sophomore Christa Pribula posted a dominant victory today the Minnesota State-Moorhead cross country invitational, winning the event with a time of 19:39.09 - nearly 20 seconds faster than the second-place finisher.

Pribula, who earned All-NSIC honors for BSU last season and has been arguably the program’s top runner during the fall season, defeated Minn. State-Moorhead’s Sarah Thome by 18.03. Thome finished with a time of 19:57.12. Pribula and Thome were the only two runners in the meet with times under 20:00; MSU-Moorhead’s Heather Schuster was third with a time of 20:44.27.

“We did well, with Christa taking first place,” BSU head coach Craig Hougen said. “She ran very well, in what might be the fastest time in the conference this year. She just ran away from everybody.”

BSU’s Jaclyn Thomforde finished fourth with a time of 20:51.25, 1:12.16 off Pribula’s winning pace, while Ali Judkins was ninth at 21:34.55. Nicole Friend finished 14th at 21:48.56 while Katie Dippel (21:56.51) was 15th. In total, 11 BSU runners competed in the 5,000m race.

Heather Smith, running unattached, finished fifth at 21:02.87. Concordia-Moorhead ran 17 runners in the event, with its top finisher being eighth-place Erin Anderson at 21:08.12. Thirteen of the 17 Cobber runners finished in the bottom 16 places of the meet. The Invitational saw 38 runners compete.

Next action for the Bemidji State harriers comes Oct. 11 at the Minn. Duluth Invitational. That meet will be BSU’s final trial run prior to the NSIC Championships, which will also be held in Duluth. The Championships begin Oct. 25.