University of Minnesota Athletics

Gopher Men Fifth in Griak

9/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country

The Minnesota men’s cross country team placed fifth in the Griak Merrill Fischbein Men’s Gold Race on Saturday in Falcon Heights, Minn. The Golden Gophers were defeated by four teams ranked higher in the national poll, scoring 136 points to finish behind champion Duke (83), North Carolina State (92), New Mexico (93) and BYU (118). Minnesota did score an important win over Iowa State, who was seventh (200), but came into the meet ranked higher than the Gophers in the NCAA Midwest Region and the national poll.

Running without 2009 Griak champion Hassan Mead, who is lost of the season with an injury, the Gophers looked to a pair of seniors in Ben Blankenship and Mike Torchia to lead the way. Blankenship finished 10th in a time of 24 minutes, 31.1 seconds, while Torchia was 14th in 24:42.4. Sophomore Pieter Gagnon was the third Gopher in the top 20, placing 15th in a time of 24:42.9.

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Completing the scoring for the Gophers was Kevin Lachowitzer in 46th in a time of 25:20.0, and Andrew Larsen in 56th in a time of 25:26.7.

“I think our top three guys ran well,” said Golden Gopher head coach Steve Plasencia. “We also had some of our young guys step up a bit. We still need to find more depth. Overall it was a decent meet for us.”

2010 Griak Merrill Fischbein Men’s Gold Race
Saturday, Sept. 25, 2010
Les Bolstad Golf Course – Falcon Heights, Minn. – 8K

Top 10 Teams
1    Duke    8-12-17-19-27-(31)-(39)    83
2    North Carolina State    4-7-21-25-35-(46)-(54)    92
3    New Mexico    2-5-6-33-47-(48)-(49)    93
4    BYU    3-23-24-26-40-(41)-(42)    118
5    Minnesota    10-14-15-44-53-(58)-(60)    136
6    Navy    9-29-30-65-66-(82)-(93)    199
7    Iowa State    11-20-52-56-61-(62)-(70)    200
8    Colorado State    32-34-36-45-59-(67)-(99)    206
9    Penn State    13-22-55-63-68-(81)-(104)    221
10    Boise State    16-38-51-72-78-(79)-(83)    255

Top 10 Individuals
1    Stephan Sambu (Arizona)    23:40.7
2    Nicholas Kipruto (New Mexico)    23:59.6
3    Miles Batty (BYU)    24:14.5
4    Ryan Hill (N.C. State)    24:16.9
5    Rory Fraser (New Mexico)    24:19.7
6    Keith Gerrard (New Mexico)    24:24.3
7    Andrew Colley (N.C. State)    24:25.4
8    Bo Waggoner (Duke)    24:26.8
9    Andrew Hanko (Navy)    24:27.0
10    Ben Blankenship (Minnesota)    24:31.1

Other Golden Gophers
14    Mike Torchia    24:42.4
15    Pieter Gagnon    24:42.9
46    Kevin Lachowitzer    25:20.0
56    Andrew Larson    25:26.7
64    Sean Olson    25:31.3
67    John Simons    25:33.7
80    Mike McFarland    25:43.2
89    Erik Truedson    25:49.0
95    Paul Hilsen    25:58.1
124    Steve Sulkin    26:18.1
159    Matt Volz    27:01.7
179    Drew Paradis    27:24.5

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