Evansville, Ind. – In the final cross country race of their Northern State careers, the senior duo of Sasha Hovind and Dakotah Bullen raced to All-American finishes, as the Wolves went 2-for-2 from the NCAA Championships. Hovind finished tenth overall, while Bullen came in 34^th from the Angel Mounds course in Evansville, Indiana.
 
The tenth place finish for Hovind is the top placing of her career from the NCAA Championships, finishing with a time of 21:08.7. The senior earned the ninth All-American honor of her career, and third in cross country as the top NSIC finisher in the race. She was under a minute off the national champion, Kurgat, who broke away from the pack early in the race.
 
"My main goal going into the race was to first and foremost be an All-American," explained Hovind. "I have accomplished it in the past and knew I had what it took to do it again. Ultimately, I wanted to be in the top-10. I am pretty sure I made coach nervous because he told me I needed to get out hard and to not get trapped but try as I might, I was definitely was back in the pack. I knew this would happen though and just told myself to relax and throw some surges throughout to get to where I wanted to be. I slowly worked my way up and fought hard both physically and mentally to get that top-10 [finish] I had dreamed of. I loved every second of it and was so honored and happy to have Dakotah toe the line with me. All the sweeter that our final race together we both were able to take home All-American honors."
 
Bullen nabbed the first All-American honor of her career in cross country working her way into the top-40 in the event with a time of 21:39.4. The senior moved up 22 places from her finish in 2015, after sitting 56^th overall. She also landed in the top-10 in the NSIC as the seventh finisher from the league.
 
"My game plan was to go out strong and hold on," noted Bullen. "But mostly to just go out and have fun and enjoy it. When the gun went off I didn't get out quite as quickly as I had hoped, but it gave me a great opportunity to pass a lot of girls and build momentum throughout the race. I enjoyed every minute of it and couldn't be happier."
 
The pair concludes their NSU cross country careers with a combined four All-American honors and numerous race wins, including three back-to-back-to-back titles for Bullen from the Herb Blakely Invite and the NSIC Championship for Hovind in 2014.