The Seattle University cross country teams faced some of the best programs from across the United States as they competed in the 23rd annual Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota at the Les Bolstad Golf Course Saturday.
The Seattle University women were once again paced by Katie Hansen (Portland, Ore.), who steadily worked her way up to a 62nd place finish in a time of 22:54.6. Rachel Yorkston (Bellingham, Wash.) crossed the finish line in 117th place with a time of 23:45.2, while Greta Stickney (Poulsbo, Wash.) finished in 151st place in 24:19.1.
Two other Redhawk women earned top 200 finishes, as Jen Hamann (Colorado Spring, Colo.) finished in 194th place in 25:31.1 and Natalie Martinez (San Francisco, Calif.) crossed the finish line in 200th place with a time of 25:47.9. Tiffany Hunter (Longview, Wash.) finished in 204th place in 26:07.5, and Sarah Bolce (Sacramento, Calif.) ran a time of 26:43.5 for a 209th-place finish.
The women’s team finished in 21st place with 582 points, finishing ahead of Bradley of the Missouri Valley Conference and Northern Illinois from the Mid-American Conference. Minnesota won the team competition, followed by Arizona State, New Mexico, Duke, Portland, Adams State, James Madison, Northern Iowa, Navy, and Iowa State.
Michael Van Nuland (Newcastle, Wash.) was the leading runner for the Redhawk men’s team, finishing in 178th place in 27:22.5 over the 8000-meter course. Nick Cannata-Bowman (San Francisco, Calif.) crossed the finish line in 185th place with a time of 27:34.2, followed closely by Erik Barkhaus (Whitefish Bay, Wisc.), who posted a time of 27:35.4 and finished in 187th place.
Next for Seattle University was Hans Heitzinger (Scottsdale, Ariz.), who finished in 203rd place in a time of 28:03.4. Matthew McClement (Bellingham, Wash.) finished in 207th place in 28:14.5, followed by Adam Kollgaard (Kent, Wash.) in 217th place in 28:59.2 and Graham Miller (Spokane, Wash.) in 222nd place with a time of 29:24.3.
As a team, the Seattle University men finished in 25th place with 747 points. Adams State won the team competition, followed by Iowa State, BYU, the host Gophers, Auburn, Washington State, New Mexico, Duke, Iowa, and Arizona State rounding out the top ten.
"Overall I thought the team performed well today," head coach Trisha Steidl said. "This is the biggest event we have ever been a part of, and there was a lot of energy surrounding this event, which I think took some of our younger runners by surprise. This was a good learning experience for everyone, especially against a field as fast as this one, and it will help the student-athletes in the program grow and perform better in similar situations in the future."
Seattle University will host the Emerald City Open next Saturday, Oct. 4, at Lower Woodland Park beginning with the women’s 6000-meter race at 10:30 a.m.