ST. PAUL, MINN. – For the third straight year, a University of Sioux Falls Men's Cross Country runner has won an individual title at the Roy Griak Invitational. USF's dominance in winning the race continued at senior
Steven Brown clocked a 25:03.0 to win the individual Men's Maroon DII 8K race and lead the No. 11 ranked Cougars to third place in the team standings. USF's Women's Team took 12
th as senior
Montana Belford was 33
rd in 23:39.1 in the Women's Maroon DII 6K race.
"It was a nice run for our team today," said USF Director of Track and Field/Cross Country
Doug Petersen. "We were able to get some things accomplished and able to see where we are at with our conditioning," he said.
Senior
Mason Phillips, who was the two-time defending Griak men's champion, was 7th in 25:31.9) and among four USF runners to finish in the top 26. Senior
Zach Lundberg was 14
th in 25:59.0 while
Dan Armstrong, also a senior, was 26
th in 26:31.6. Rounding out USF's top five was sophomore
David Ecker who clocking 27:03.8 to finish 48
th. USF also had strong outing from freshman
Seth Overholt, who finished 52
nd in 27:15.0 while sophomore
Shodo Mahamed was 64
th in 27:31.0.
In the men's race, the only teams to finish ahead of USF was No. 7 Augustana, which won the team title with 42 points while No. 9 Michigan Tech was second with 55 points. USF finished third with 96 points and ahead of Western Washington, 126; and Florida Southern, 197.
Aside from Belford, USF had a number of quality performances from young runners with freshman
Lauren Wells finishing 54
th in 24:01.9. Also for USF, freshman
Annika Aho was 80
th in 24:27.6 with sophomore
Sarina Lindell, 87
th, in 24:39.1. USF also had solid efforts from sophomore
Maria Streed, 104
th, 25:02.9; freshman
Victoria Barkosky, 113
th, 25:12.0; and freshman
Cassidy O'Meara, 133
rd, 25.34.8.
"We are making process. I was very pleased with the run by Steven (Brown). I am happy for him. He works so hard and is very deserving to the win," added Petersen.
Next up for USF Cross Country Teams will be the Lewis Conference Cross-Over on Oct. 12 in Romeoville, Ill.
