The University of Minnesota Duluth men's and women's cross country teams will travel to St. Paul, Minn. Friday morning to race in the 39th annual Roy Griak Invitational. The race – hosted by the University of Minnesota on the Les Bolstad Golf Course – will get underway at 11:30 a.m. for the Jo Rider Men's Maroon Race, and then 12:15 p.m. for the Suzy Wilson Women's Maroon Race.
BULLDOGS AT THE GRIAK: While the men's side has one Griak team title in program history in 1995, the women have a total of five – all since 2009. Most recently, the UMD women won the team title in 2022. They also took home titles in 2015, 2014, 2010 and 2009.
Morgan place still owns the seventh fastest time on the women's side – in 2020 Place ran a time of 21:49.2. Place was UMD's first-ever Griak winner, and won three years in a row from 2008, 2009 and 2010. Most recently, Samantha Rivard won the race in 2014 with a time of 22:02.8.
2024 AT THE GRIAK: Last season, the UMD women finished in sixth with 193 points. Franny Seidel was the Bulldogs top finisher in 21st with a time of 23:41:6, while senior Elizabeth VanLoon, who placed 43rd overall and third for UMD with a time of 24:21.9, is UMD's top returning Griak finisher from a season ago.
The men turned in a 10th place finish with 294 points. Jack Vankempen finished ninth overall and first for the Bulldogs with a time of 26:24.0, while senior Alex Heidorn is UMD's top returning finisher. Heidorn placed 95th overall and third for the team in 2024 with a time of 28:10.4.
LAST TIME OUT: One week ago UMD competed in the River Town Invitational Prescott, Wis. at the Prescott High School Cross Country Course
The UMD women ran to title with the help from three top-five finishers, including senior VanLoon in second (23:24.9), junior Ellie Hanowski in fourth (Ellie Hanowski) and senior Kira Almsberger in fifth (Kira Almsberger). Sophomore Claire Becker and freshman Sadie Eicher also placed in the top-10 -- Becker in seventh (23:44.9) and Eicher in ninth (24:08.3).
On the men's side, the Bulldogs placed third as a squad and were led by freshman Isaac Dickenson in eighth with a time of 26:55.4. UMD's second highest finisher was sophomore Connor Bialka with a 27:18.3, good enough for 12th and junior Noah Foster was the third Bulldog in 16th with a time of 27:35.1.
