University of Minnesota Athletics
Griak Hall of Fame Class to be Inducted
9/23/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
MINNEAPOLIS – As part of the 30th annual Roy Griak Invitational festivities, Gopher Athletics has announced the formation of the Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame with eight inductees slated to be honored in the inaugural class at Les Bolstad Course this Saturday.
The eight inductees are Kiel Uhl (Iowa State/Des Moines Roosevelt High School), Morgan Place (Minnesota Duluth), Dick Skogg (Duluth East High School), Ben Noad (Providence), Bill Bergan (Iowa State), Fran ten Bensel (Nebraska), Ralph Eugene "Lefty" Wright (St. Louis Park High School), and Roy Griak himself.
The Hall of Fame presentation is scheduled for 12:45 p.m. on Saturday, following the Merrill Fischbein Men's Gold (Division I) competition at 12:20 p.m. and the Men's Maroon II (Division II) awards at 12:25 p.m. and before the Jack Johnson Women's Gold (Division I) Competition at 1:20 p.m.
2015 Roy Griak Invitational Hall of Fame Inductees
ROY GRIAK, University of Minnesota
For more than 50 years Roy Griak was the face of cross country at the University of Minnesota. From his time as a student-athlete for the Golden Gophers, to his legendary career as a coach in Gold Country and co-founder of the one of the nation’s most prestigious cross country meets that now bears his name, Roy Griak epitomized the ideals of being a gentleman and a scholar … and we are all better people for that.
Roy Griak died on July 9, 2015 in Minneapolis at the age of 91. Not only did the University of Minnesota lose a legend with Griak’s passing, but the Big Ten Conference, along with the cross country and the track & field communities lost perhaps the greatest ambassador those sports have ever had.
Roy Griak was born on Oct. 5, 1923 in Duluth, Minn. He graduated from Morgan Park High School in 1942 and served in the U.S. Infantry during World War II. He enrolled at Minnesota in 1946, a place that would eventually become his home for more than five decades. Griak spent 14 years teaching at coaching at high schools in Minnesota before taking over the Minnesota program. He became coach of the Minnesota cross country program in 1963 after replacing Jim Kelly, whom Griak competed for during his own collegiate career in Maroon & Gold. He remained in that capacity until his retirement following the 1996 season. During his time in leading the Gopher cross country team, Griak’s team won Big Ten titles in 1964 and in 1969. His 1968 Gophers placed second at the conference championship before finishing fourth at the NCAA championship meet. That remains the highest finish by a Minnesota team at the national meet. Griak’s 1968 track & field team won the Big Ten title.
In all, Griak coached a total of 49 cross country and track and field All-Americans, including three NCAA champions during his legendary career. Minnesota athletes garnered a total of 61 Big Ten individual titles during his storied career.
RALPH EUGENE “LEFTY” WRIGHT, St. Louis Park High School
Lefty Wright’s association with the Roy Griak Invitational traces its roots to the beginning of the popular meet. His association with the meet’s namesake even deeper.
Wright’s contributions to running and to the Roy Griak Invitational are well documented.
A former high school coach, teacher and administrator at St. Louis Park High School (1958-68), Wright spent five seasons as an assistant coach for Griak at the school before succeeding Griak when the legendary coach took over the University of Minnesota program.
Wright would later work as the official starter at the Griak Invitational for 27 of the first 29 editions of the prestigious meet, while also working as the starter at five Big Ten Conference outdoor track championships and no fewer than four conference indoor meets and numerous other cross country meets and track meets at the University of Minnesota.
A 1957 graduate of Macalester College, Wright would later work in some capacity at 47 Minnesota State High School League cross country championships and 46 state track meets, including 23 as a starter.
FRAN TEN BENSEL, University of Nebraska
One of the greatest runners in the history of the Big 8 Conference, Fran ten Bensel remains the most-decorated female runner in the Nebraska history.
Ten Bensel was the first woman to ever win two individual titles at the Roy Griak Invitational. Her first Griak title came in 1991 and helped her Nebraska team to a third-place finish that year. She repeated the following year with one of the most impressive performances in the history of the meet. Her winning time of 16:43 was the second-fastest winning time in Griak history at the time as the Huskers placed fifth in the team standings.
Ten Bensel is the only Nebraska runner to win a conference cross country championship as she won the Big 8 crown in 1991 and placed second the following year, solidifying her status as one of the greats of her sport.
She is also the only Nebraska runner to ever earn All-America honors on three occasions in cross country with a ninth-place finish in 1992 -- the best of her illustrious career. The Arapahoe, Neb. native, also excelled on the track as she earned six conference championships, including back-to-back indoor titles (1991-92) in the mile and earned All-America honors five times. She still holds four school records.
Ten Bensel competed in the Olympic Trials twice during her running career, placing as high as seventh in the 1,500- and 3,000-meters in 1992. She also competed in the Trials in 1996.
BILL BERGAN, Iowa State University
Bill Bergan became Iowa State’s head cross country coach in 1971 and took little time in turning around the fortunes of the Cyclone program. Iowa State had finished in the lower division of the Big 8 Conference championship meet in each of the 11 seasons before Bergan’s arrival. In just his fourth season at Iowa State, Bergan guided the 1974 Cyclones to their first conference championship in 43 years and the foundation of success was secured.
Under Bergan’s leadership the Cyclones would win 10 Big 8 championships, including five straight from 1987 through 1991. His 1989 Iowa State team established a Roy Griak Invitational record by scoring 15 points on the way to the team title. It would be the first of three Griak titles for Bergan and the Cyclones. Iowa State also claimed team titles in 1990 and 1993.
Bergan would also guide Iowa State to national titles in 1989 and 1994 before stopping down as coach of the Cyclones. During his time as coach at Iowa State his teams competed in the NCAA meet 15 times and placed among the top-eight finishers in each of the last 11 seasons with Bergan at the helm. He was chosen as Big 8 cross country coach of the year five times in a span of eight seasons while at Iowa State.
Bergan took over as track coach at Iowa State in 1976 and found similar success as he had in cross country. The Cyclones had finished last or next to last at 21-straight Big 8 outdoor meets before Bergan assumed the reins. By the time he retired, Iowa State would claim 25 indoor or outdoor championships at the conference level, including a stretch where the Cyclones claimed 10 outdoor titles in a span of 14 years. He coached 104 All-Americans and 156 Big 8 Conference champions during his career at Iowa State.
BEN NOAD, Providence College
It took 13 years, but Ben Noad made history in 1998 when he became the first man to ever repeat as the individual champion at the Roy Griak Invitational.
Noad, a native of Bristol, England, placed 19th in his first appearance at the Griak Invitational in 1996 and captured his first individual title the following year after covering the course in 24:23.8 as his Providence team finished seventh in the standings.
His winning time in 1998 was nearly identical to the time he recorded the previous season. Noad’s 24:25 performance and first-place finish was instrumental as the Friars won the team championship for the first time after competing at the Griak each of the previous three seasons.
A three-time qualifier for the NCAA championship meet, Noad placed 18th and 12th, respectively, in each of his final two years after running to an 88th-place finish at the national meet as a freshman in 1995.
He later competed for Great Britain in five world cross country championships and a pair of European championships. He also placed 11th in the World Student Cross Country Championship meet in 2000 in Germany where he helped his team to a silver-medal finish.
DICK SKOGG, Duluth East High School
The architect of one of the most successful high school cross country programs in Minnesota history, Dick Skogg guided Duluth East High School to five-straight Minnesota State High School League state championships (1993-97) and earned his place among the greatest coaches in Minnesota history.
A graduate of Minnesota Duluth, Skogg led Duluth East to three-straight championships (1995-97) in the high school division of the Roy Griak Invitational and earned a double in 1995 as his Greyhounds captured the high school boys championship at the Griak Invitational, giving him a total of four meet championships.
He coached three individual Griak champions as Nic Mattack won a pair of titles (1995-96) in the boys division and Kendall Wheeler captured the girls championship in 1995.
Skogg, who began teaching and coaching at Duluth East in 1963, retired as cross country coach following the 1997 season and later spent time as athletics director at the school.
MORGAN PLACE, University of Minnesota Duluth
Morgan Place wasted little time in proving her dominance in cross country and running her way into the hearts of longtime fans of the Roy Griak Invitational.
In what would be just the third race of her collegiate career, Place won the 2008 Griak by running a time of 22:16.1. It turned out to be the first of three consecutive individual championships at the Griak as Place became the first female collegian to claim three individual titles at the meet.
Place helped Minnesota Duluth to the team titles in each of the next two years with her championship performance.
Place, who eventually won 22 of the 35 cross country races she competed in during her career as a Bulldog, placed 10th in her final appearance at the Griak Invitational. When she graduated from Minnesota Duluth, Place had qualified for the NCAA championship meet three times in cross country, while earning All-America honors each of those seasons, highlighted by a fifth-place NCAA finish as a junior after placing seventh and sixth, respectively, in each of her first two seasons at Duluth.
She also competed at the indoor and outdoor national track & field meets all four years of her career and earned All-American honors five times on the track.
In all, Place qualified for the national championships 11 out of a possible 12 times during her career and also claimed seven Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference championships as a Bulldog.
KIEL UHL, Iowa State University/Des Moines Roosevelt High School
No athlete in the history of the Roy Griak Invitational has earned more recognition than Kiel Uhl.
The 2005 graduate of Des Moines Roosevelt High School placed 10th at the Griak Invitational in 2002 and earn two more top-20 finishes during his high school career. He placed 12th as a junior as Roosevelt became just the second school to win consecutive high school titles at the Griak. He won his only Griak individual title as a senior and capped his high school cross country career by winning the 2004 Griak championship in a time of 15:31.3, the second-fastest winning time in the history of the Griak.
Uhl would continue his Griak success by placing among the top-20 and appearing on the awards stand all four years while competing at Iowa State. He finished 15th at the meet as a freshman and seventh as a sophomore with the Cyclones before turning his best performance as a collegian with a fourth-place finish at the meet in 2007 as ISU placed third as a team. His squad placed second at the 2008 Griak as Uhl placed 10th in his final Griak appearance.
The total of seven trips to the Griak Invitational awards stand is a meet record likely to go unmatched.
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