The University of Minnesota Duluth men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Northfield, Minn. Saturday morning to run in the St. Olaf Invitational on the St. Olaf Championship Course. The women's 6k race will get underway at 9:15 a.m., followed by the men's 8k race at 11:00 a.m.

LAST TIME OUT: The two teams competed at the River Town Invitational at Prescott High School in Prescott, Wis. on Sept. 4 to open up the 2026 season. The women took home the team title behind an overall win in freshman Taylor Sylla's Bulldog debut with a time of 23:48.2, followed by sophomore Lillian L'Esperance's second place finish in 24:02.7. Senior Ellie Hanowski finished in fifth overall with an effort of 24:13.6, while a pair of freshman rounded out UMD's top-five scorers: Danice Kendrick in ninth (25:06.4) and Kyra Rohrbach in 11th (25:28.)

On the men's side, sophomore Isaac Dickenson started the season right off where he left his rookie year, earning a first place finish with a time of 26:46.6. Senior Noah Foster finished fifth overall in 27:13.7, while another senior Nolan Bakken, placed 18th (28:58.7. Junior Dylan Taggart was the Bulldogs fourth runner in 24th (29:25.0) and freshman Henry Mathiason.

BULLDOGS VS EVERYBODY: 22 schools will compete Saturday, including runners from South Dakota State, a Division I program. UMD will have some local competition in the University of Wisconsin-Superior and some Canadian foes as well – both the University of Manitoba and Lakehead University will be on the starting line.

AT THE HELM: UMD head cross country coach Brette Jensen is in her fifth cross country season with the Bulldogs after taking the program over on Dec. 8, 2021. Jensen – who was promoted to the Director of Track and Field and Cross Country in August –  coached the Bulldog squads to a men's ninth place finish and women's third place finish in the 2025 NSIC Cross Country Championship, and helped Shaelyn Hostager to a third place finish and All-Region honor in the Division II Central Region Championships.