The #16 ranked University of Minnesota Duluth women's cross country team and Bulldog men's cross country team will head down to St. Paul for the Roy Griak Invitational tomorrow, Friday, September 23rd.

The Bulldogs (men and women) are unbeaten so far this season, placing first in the Bulldog Open earlier this month. The UMD women's team comes into the Roy Griak Invitational ranked 16th nationally in the Week 1 USTFCCCA DII Women's Cross Country Poll, and ranked third in the Central Region. The Bulldog men rank 10th in the Central Region polls.

UMD has won the Suzy Wilson Women's Maroon Race for Division II and III participants four times total -- 2009, 2010, 2014, and 2015. In 2021, the most recent running, the team finished with an impressive second place. Of 327 runners in last year's race, the Bulldogs owned two top ten finishes in Morgan Radel, who placed seventh with a time of 22:44.8 and ninth-place Julia Nielsen, who ran a 22:53.6. The Bulldogs' ensuing three finishers included Maddie Verkerke (16th, 23:07.0), Lauryn Renier (42nd, 23:49.2), and Anna Palodichuk (46th, 23.52.5). Seven Bulldogs finished in the top 50.

UMD is coming off an impressive start to the season at the Bulldog Open where the women's team landed the top 13 finishers. Maddie Verkerke led the pack with a first-place finish (and personal best 5K) of 18:04.1. The rest of the Bulldogs followed with Morgan Radel (18:13.1 – personal best 5K) coming in second, followed by Elizabeth VanLoon (18:43.2) in her first collegiate competition, Savannah Schley (19:06.0 – personal best 5K), Anna Palodichuk (19:06.7 – personal best 5K), Franny Seidel (19:08.8 – personal best 5K), and Lauryn Renier (19:28.9).

The UMD men have won the Roy Griak Invitational one time, in 1995. In 2021, the most recent race, the team placed 11th overall. In that running, Lucas Selman was the team's top finisher at 56th, with a time of 26:51.4 followed by Owen Dickenson placing 65th, running a 27:07.4

The UMD men's team kicked-off the season with the Bulldog open earlier this month. Jack Van Kempen led all competitors, crossing the finish line in first-place with a time of 15:22.0. All of the top seven Bulldog runners finished in the top 10. Lucas Selman (15:31.6), Austin Antony (15:33.0), and Owen Dickenson (15:43.4) rounded out the top five with a second, third, and fourth place finish. Isaac Martel (15:57.9), Sam Ringger (16:20.6), and Finn Youberg (16:26.5) all had strong finishes.

At the Roy Griak Invitational, the men's team will set off for the Jo Rider Men's Maroon Race for Division II and Division III competitors at 12:00 pm and the women's team will follow with the Suzy Wilson Women's Maroon Race at 12:45 pm.

All results will be posted here.