Athenas Finish Third, Stags Finish Fourth At Griak

The men's and women's cross country teams fared well in their first in-season competition off of the West Coast.  The teams competed at the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, MN, one of the biggest meets in the country, against several nationally ranked teams.  The Athenas, ranked 11th nationally entering the meet, finished third with 115 points behind 21st-ranked University of Wisconsin (UW)-Oshkosh with 65 and top-ranked UW-Eau Claire with 115.  CMS beat 34th-ranked Wartburg College, 35th-ranked North Central College and 28th-ranked University of St. Thomas.  The Stags, ranked 15th nationally, finished fourth with 143 points.  Sixth-ranked UW-Platteville won the race with 47 points followed by unranked UW-Eau Claire with 99 and 32nd-ranked UW-Oshkosh with 123.  CMS beat 16th-ranked Grinnell College and 24th-ranked Hamline University.

Three Athenas earned individual awards for finishing in the top 20.  Jennifer Tave (JR, St. Germain, France) finished 11th with a time of 23:05 followed by Julia Rigby (JR, Tustin) 17th in 23:16 and Kerrin Smith (FR, Dover, MA) 19th in 23:25.  Personal bests for the six kilometer distance were turned in by Alison Gushue (JR, Tustin) 31st in 23:46, Marnie Hogue (SO, Mercer Island, WA) 44th in 24:04 and Laura Wyatt (SO, La Jolla) 45th in 24:05.

Two Stags earned individual awards - Brian Sutter (SO, Monroe, WA) 8th in 26:14 and Kris Brown (SR, Seattle, WA) 14th in 26:20.  The top performance for the team was turned in by Rafer Dannenhauer (SO, Shutesbury, MA) who finished 25th in 26:38.

CMS will return to action this coming Saturday, October 2.  The runner who did not compete at the Griak Invitational will compete at the Pomona-Pitzer Invitational on the Pomona College campus.  The men will race at 8:00 and the women will follow at 8:45.