The 2010 Griak Invitational welcomes thousands of competitors and
cross country fans to the University of Minnesota and the 25th Annual
Griak event.
Griak Women's Gold Recap
North Carolina State freshman Laura Hoer held off Minnesota junior
Stephanie Price to win the individual title in the Jack Johnson Women’s
Gold (Division I) Race at the 25th Annual Roy Griak Invitational on
Saturday.
Hoer crossed the finish line in 20:38.40, two seconds
ahead of Price, for what has to be the biggest win of her young career.
Hoer is the first freshman to win the Jack Johnson Gold Race since
Duke’s Sheela Agrawal won in the last year the race covered 5K in 1999.
“This
was unbelievable. I didn’t expect this coming into this race, but we
definitely put in a lot of hard work, and my coach told me to just stick
with the front group, and if I felt good, not to be afraid of anyone.
So I just tried to stick with the girls who were in the front, and to do
the best that I could.”
Arizona placed five runners among the
top 25 to win the team title with 76 points, followed by New Mexico
(101), Iowa State (111), Duke (117) and Providence (135) rounding out
the top five. Minnesota finished seventh with 180 points, with freshman
Missa Varpness finishing 27th in 21:47.
Griak Men's Gold Recap
The 21st-ranked Duke Blue Devils placed five runners among the top 25
to win the Merrill Fischbein Men’s Gold (Division I) race at the 2010
Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday. It was the first Griak title for
Duke in just its second appearance after finishing third in 2009. Senior
Bo Waggoner was the top finisher for Duke, taking eighth place in
24:26.8.
The individual champion was Arizona’s Stephen Sambu, who
broke away from the rest of the field to cross the finish line 23:40.7,
well ahead of runner-up Nicholas Kipruto of New Mexico (23:59.6).
“From
the beginning, the race was really nice, and I was comfortable from the
beginning until the end,” Sambu said. “The course was a little slippery
because of the rain. My strategy is to stay at the front until 5K, and
then to break away. I’m so happy, and I feel great to be able to win.”
New
Mexico (80 points) and North Carolina State (80) finished tied for
second in the team standings, followed by Brigham Young (102) in fourth
place, and the University of Minnesota (117) in fifth.
Griake Men's Maroon II Recap
Augustana (S.D.) scored 60 points to win its second Roy Griak
Invitational Maroon II Race title. The Vikings’ top finisher was Matt
Braithwaite in eighth place. Travis Beniak (9), Daniel Black (11), Tor
Tengsreid (13), and Ryan Evans (19) also finished in the top 20.
Augustana placed 10th at the NCAA Championships last year. The Vikings’
first Griak title came in 1993.
Regina senior Kelly Wiebe
captured the individual title in 24:54.2. Wiebe, a member of the
Canadian national cross country team, finished ahead of Azusa Pacific’s
Abednego Magut and Wisconsin-Parkside’s Ben Orvold.
“The first K
went out pretty fast and it seemed like the leader died quite hard, and
I had quite a good lead on the rest of the pack so I just held it for
the rest of the race,” said Wiebe.
Regina finished sixth overall. Coming in second and third after Augustana were UW-Parkside and Concordia Nebraska.
Griak Men's Maroon III Recap
Wisconsin-Platteville scored 47 points to win the Roy Griak
Invitational Maroon III Race. Patrick Klein and Jason Garvens finished
third and fourth, respectively, to lead the Pioneers to their first
title. Platteville, last year’s Griak runner-up and NCAA ninth-place
team, also saw Bill Clift (10), Anthony Swimm (13), and Nathan Petesch
(17) finish in the top 20.
Concordia Moorhead junior Tom
Sederquist won the individual title with a time of 25:39.2. He gained
and held onto a lead over a tight pack of runners, including Klein,
Garvens, and runner-up Nate Stymiest of Wisconsin-Oshkosh. Sederquist is
the Cobbers’ first Griak champion.
“The last half (of the race) I
was thinking, ‘Man, I can’t wait ‘til this is over,’” said Sederquist.
“With those guys chasing me, it was tough. I just tried to keep my
confidence and go.
Wisconsin-Eau Claire finished second in the team standings with 99 points, Wisconsin-Oshkosh was third with 123.
Griak Women's Maroon II Recap
The Minnesota-Duluth Bulldogs scored 70 points to win the Roy Griak
Invitational Women’s Maroon II Race for the second straight year. Duluth
junior Morgan Place led the Bulldogs, running a time of to win her
third consecutive individual Griak title. Bridget Hines (6), Whitney
Hines (19), Michelle Sancartier (20), and Hannah Jocelyn (24) also
scored for Duluth.
“It feels unbelievable,” said Place of her
title. “It just feels amazing. It’s a good test early in the season to
see where I’m at.”
Place, who placed sixth in the NCAA Division
II Championships a year ago, joins former Wisconsin-Platteville Tyler
Sigl (2005, 06, 07) as the only three-time winners of collegiate races
at the Griak Invitational.
University of Mary (98) came in
second, with Melissa Agnew (7) as its top finisher. Azusa Pacific (121)
finsihed third, with Lauren Jimison finishing third and Poppy Lawman
finishing fifth overall. Individually, Jamestown’s Katie Conlon came in
fourth.
Griak Women's Maroon III Recap
Wisconsin-Oshkosh scored 65 points to win its second Roy Griak
Invitational team title in the Women’s Maroon III Race and first since
1990. The Titans’ top finisher was sophomore Christy Cazzola, who posted
a time of 22:19.6 to finish third overall. Oshkosh placed all of its
scoring runners in the top 25 with Jenny Piskor (8), Brittany Haas (15),
Mallory Burk (21) and Allison Gehl (23) running at the lead of the
pack.
Defending NCAA Division III champion Wisconsin Eau Claire
finished second with 88 points, but celebrated the individual titlist in
junior Alyssa Sybilrud. Sybilrud ran a time of 22:04.4. She is the
first Blugold to win a Griak individual title.
“I tried to be a
little patient for the first mile, keep catching and moving up through
the 4K, and then just (give) everything I had 5K to the finish,”
Sybilrud said of today’s race. “I wasn’t feeling too good so I went out a
little bit too patient, but I think it paid off in the end. I think
we’re looking really strong and we’re hoping for a repeat. We put all
the work in, so it’s all there.”
Carleton junior Simone
Childs-Walker came in second (22:15.3), and the Knights came in eighth.
Senior Amanda Laesch of North Central College and sophomore Linda Keller
of Minnesota-Morris took fourth and fifth, respectively.