University of Minnesota Athletics
University of Minnesota
Roy Griak Invitational
Gophers Earn Top-10 Finish
9/24/2016 12:00:00 AM | Women's Cross Country
Meet Results | Griak Invitational Central
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. - The University of Minnesota women's cross country team placed ninth of 35 teams with 262 points in the Jack Johnson Women's Gold Division I Race during the 31st annual running of the Roy Griak Invitational at Les Bolstad Course Saturday afternoon.
The Gophers were led by Bethany Hasz, who finished 21st overall in 22:21.4. Madeline Strandemo was 33rd overall in 22:32.4, followed by Megan Hasz in 44th (22:39.8) to round out Minnesota's top three. Abby Kargol finished fourth on the team, her highest team finish of her career, in 79th place overall 23:13.7, and Bailey Ness (23:15.4) completed Minnesota's scoring runners in 85th place.
"Overall I thought our top three ran great," University of Minnesota head coach Sarah Hopkins said. "Bethany Hasz had a great meet, she was our first runner and taking 21st as a true freshman is crazy good. That's the only way I can put it. Maddie [Strandemo] was in the hunt, she faded a little bit in the end but still got 33rd, which is still a good day. Megan Hasz was 44th as our third, and I told them top 40 in this meet is really elite. We just need to get our four and five a little closer. I think we've done that earlier this year but didn't quite do it today. We need to execute better in that range."
The Gophers finished fourth among nine Big Ten Conference schools competing at the Griak Invitational, using the event as a course preview for this year's B1G Championship to be held at Les Bolstad Course on Sunday, Oct. 30. Michigan State led the way in second overall, followed by Penn State (third), Michigan (fifth), Minnesota (ninth), Ohio State (10th), Northwestern (21st), Illinois (24th), Iowa (25th), and Rutgers (32nd).
"It was a solid day," Hopkins said. "I don't think we're super thrilled, but I'm also not super disappointed. We were the ninth-ranked team coming in, and we finished ninth so we ran to par. Obviously you always want to exceed that. We were a little banged up at five so we didn't run a couple kids and I think if we run them, we're a stronger team. That'll happen in a couple weeks."
Sophomore Brenna Peloquin of Boise State ran away with the individual title in 20:49.5, earning a 12-second victory over Michigan senior Erin Finn (21:01.0).
Meanwhile, Portland took the team title with 74 points, placing three individuals in the top six led by third-place finisher Lauren Larocco (21:29.1) and fourth-place finisher Anne Luijten (21:56.5). Michigan State scored 127 points as team runner-up with three runners in the top 19, and Penn State rounded out the top three teams with 147 points.
Minnesota will split the squad at two meets next Friday, Sept. 30 with the top runners headed to South Bend, Ind., for the Notre Dame Invitational and another group going to Eau Claire, Wis., for the Blugold Invite.
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Players Mentioned
