University of Minnesota Athletics
Saturday, September 9
Madison, WI
10:30 AM
University of Minnesota
at
Badger Classic
Players Mentioned
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
Distance
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Men's Cross Country
/ Women's Cross Country
Badger Classic Next Up for Gopher Cross Country
9/7/2023 9:06:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
The meet will be contested on Saturday morning in Madison.
MINNEAPOLIS -- The University of Minnesota cross country team is scheduled to take its talents to Madison, Wis., for the 2023 Badger Classic. The event will feature multiple Division I Power 5 teams and will serve as a preview to the 2023 Big Ten Cross Country Championships that will be hosted at the Thomas Zimmer Championship Course in October.
BADGER CLASSIC RACE SCHEDULE
Friday's competition will see the Golden Gophers face off with Illinois, Iowa, Marquette, Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Rutgers.
LAST TIME OUT: OZ MEMORIAL
The University of Minnesota cross country teams kicked off the start of the 2023 cross country campaign on September 1, at the Oz Memorial at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights. The women's team cruised to a team victory in the 5K event led by Emma Atkinson while the men's team executed the team's race plan with all nine attached athletes finishing within one second of one another and inside the top 17 runners.
"Today we kicked off the season with an overall solid day on the course," cross country head coach Sarah Hopkins said. "You are always going to see a little bit of nerves and a little bit of rust in the first meet, especially one that is a bit warmer like ours was today. We had some really great standouts, highlighted by Emma Atkinson who looked super smooth. We are excited about the potential of these groups. We'll take a lot of lessons we learned from today and bring them into next week at Wisconsin."
WOMEN'S TOP RUNNERS
The Gopher women will lean on a mixture of veteran leadership as well as a new age of talent during the 2023 campaign. Seniors Emma Atkinson, Brianne Brewster and Taylor Kreitinger are all returning to the lineup this season and will be factors in each meet. Atkinson returns as an All-Region finisher a season ago while Kreitinger finished just outside an All-Region finish and followed that up with an NCAA Regional qualifying season during the outdoor track and field season in 2023. Minnesota will also enjoy the return of the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Ali Weimer, who will lead a young core that includes five redshirt freshmen that aim to break into the lineup for the Maroon and Gold this season.
MEN'S TOP RUNNERS
Minnesota's men's team this season will be led on the course by a mix of its veteran core along with a injection of youth. Minnesota returns standouts Emmet Anderson, Eli Hoeft and Noah Kohut-Jackson from last season. Anderson finished as Minnesota's top runner four of the five meets he competed in while Hoeft capped off his 2022 season as the team's top runner at the NCAA Midwest Regional 10K in Columbia, Mo. Kohut-Jackson steadily improved throughout 2022 and finished his last three meets as the Gophers' second-best runner, including at the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Midwest Regional. Along with those veterans, Minnesota will also see a group of redshirt-freshmen make the jump into competition this season. The collection of redshirt-freshmen that will look to make the jump into the lineup this fall are Shane Griepentrog, Griffin Ward, Owen Lindseth and Dan VanAcker.
WEIMER LOOKS TO BUILD ON STELLAR FRESHMAN CAMPAIGN
Ali Weimer, 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, returns to the course this season for the Maroon and Gold. After finishing as the conference's top freshman finisher at the 2022 Big Ten Cross Country Championships, Weimer was selected as a unanimous selection for the award last year.
Weimer's selection made her the first Gopher woman to win the award since 2000 when Darja Vasiljeva won it for the Gophers. Weimer finished 18th overall at the Big Ten Cross Country Championships and was also named to the USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region team after her top-25 finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
A GOPHER STATE OF AFFAIRS
Of the 23 women on Minnesota's roster, 16 hail from the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Four additional states and one other country is represented, including Illinois (2), Wisconsin (2), North Dakota, California and Canada. On the men's side, nine of the 17 members are from Minnesota. Wisconsin is represented by three student-athletes, while Idaho, Montana, Iowa, Connecticut and Washington are the homes to one Gopher each.
UP NEXT
Minnesota returns home next week to host the 37th Annual Roy Griak Invitational at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn. The meet will be host to a number of races at multiple age levels and Divisions. For more information about the meet, click here.
BADGER CLASSIC RACE SCHEDULE
- Men's College 8k // 10:30 a.m. CT
- Women's College 5k // 11:10 a.m. CT
Friday's competition will see the Golden Gophers face off with Illinois, Iowa, Marquette, Michigan, Northwestern, Ohio State, and Rutgers.
LAST TIME OUT: OZ MEMORIAL
The University of Minnesota cross country teams kicked off the start of the 2023 cross country campaign on September 1, at the Oz Memorial at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights. The women's team cruised to a team victory in the 5K event led by Emma Atkinson while the men's team executed the team's race plan with all nine attached athletes finishing within one second of one another and inside the top 17 runners.
"Today we kicked off the season with an overall solid day on the course," cross country head coach Sarah Hopkins said. "You are always going to see a little bit of nerves and a little bit of rust in the first meet, especially one that is a bit warmer like ours was today. We had some really great standouts, highlighted by Emma Atkinson who looked super smooth. We are excited about the potential of these groups. We'll take a lot of lessons we learned from today and bring them into next week at Wisconsin."
WOMEN'S TOP RUNNERS
The Gopher women will lean on a mixture of veteran leadership as well as a new age of talent during the 2023 campaign. Seniors Emma Atkinson, Brianne Brewster and Taylor Kreitinger are all returning to the lineup this season and will be factors in each meet. Atkinson returns as an All-Region finisher a season ago while Kreitinger finished just outside an All-Region finish and followed that up with an NCAA Regional qualifying season during the outdoor track and field season in 2023. Minnesota will also enjoy the return of the Big Ten Freshman of the Year, Ali Weimer, who will lead a young core that includes five redshirt freshmen that aim to break into the lineup for the Maroon and Gold this season.
MEN'S TOP RUNNERS
Minnesota's men's team this season will be led on the course by a mix of its veteran core along with a injection of youth. Minnesota returns standouts Emmet Anderson, Eli Hoeft and Noah Kohut-Jackson from last season. Anderson finished as Minnesota's top runner four of the five meets he competed in while Hoeft capped off his 2022 season as the team's top runner at the NCAA Midwest Regional 10K in Columbia, Mo. Kohut-Jackson steadily improved throughout 2022 and finished his last three meets as the Gophers' second-best runner, including at the Big Ten Championships and the NCAA Midwest Regional. Along with those veterans, Minnesota will also see a group of redshirt-freshmen make the jump into competition this season. The collection of redshirt-freshmen that will look to make the jump into the lineup this fall are Shane Griepentrog, Griffin Ward, Owen Lindseth and Dan VanAcker.
WEIMER LOOKS TO BUILD ON STELLAR FRESHMAN CAMPAIGN
Ali Weimer, 2022 Big Ten Freshman of the Year, returns to the course this season for the Maroon and Gold. After finishing as the conference's top freshman finisher at the 2022 Big Ten Cross Country Championships, Weimer was selected as a unanimous selection for the award last year.
Weimer's selection made her the first Gopher woman to win the award since 2000 when Darja Vasiljeva won it for the Gophers. Weimer finished 18th overall at the Big Ten Cross Country Championships and was also named to the USTFCCCA All-Midwest Region team after her top-25 finish at the NCAA Midwest Regional.
A GOPHER STATE OF AFFAIRS
Of the 23 women on Minnesota's roster, 16 hail from the Land of 10,000 Lakes. Four additional states and one other country is represented, including Illinois (2), Wisconsin (2), North Dakota, California and Canada. On the men's side, nine of the 17 members are from Minnesota. Wisconsin is represented by three student-athletes, while Idaho, Montana, Iowa, Connecticut and Washington are the homes to one Gopher each.
UP NEXT
Minnesota returns home next week to host the 37th Annual Roy Griak Invitational at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn. The meet will be host to a number of races at multiple age levels and Divisions. For more information about the meet, click here.
2025 Griak Invitational Hype
Friday, September 19
Cinematic Recap: 2025 Oz Memorial
Tuesday, September 02
Cinematic Recap: 2024 NCAA Championships
Monday, November 25
NCAA Championship Send Off
Thursday, November 21