Michigan Tech Cross Country Teams Begin 2017 Season at UW-Parkside Godfrey Open
KENOSHA, Wis. – The Michigan Tech Men's and Women's Cross-Country Teams traveled to UW-Parkside to compete in their first race of the 2017 season, Saturday, Sept. 9. The women competed in a 5K race, while the men raced in the 8K. Top finishers for the Huskies were Emily Byrd and Matt Pahl.
"It was a pretty good day for us," said Michigan Tech Head Cross Country Coach, Jake Isaacson. "The weather was great and we saw some solid performances from our athletes."
"Our women had an impressive opener today. Emily Byrd's top five finish capped an awesome team performance. We have a great pack of four runners, and it will be very exciting to see how far this group of women will go."
Emily Byrd finished fifth overall with a time of 17 minutes and 56.1 seconds in a field of 163 runners. She was just shy of Jessica Parker, first place overall finisher, who crossed the line at 17:47.6. Byrd's finish was competitive with some of the NCAA Division I Runners, who took the top three places.
Top 25 finishers for the women's team were Liz Bloch (17th, 18:49.6) and Emily Vigil (25th, 19:11.8).
The Tech women placed sixth overall out of the 12 teams invited and they ranked second overall in the Division II standings.
"Similar to our women, the men also had a solid pack," added Isaacson. "There were some of our freshmen who performed really well in their first collegiate meet."
In a field of 167 racers, Matt Pahl took eighth overall with a time of 25 minutes and 54.3 seconds. Armando Torres of UW-Parkside took first place finishing at 25:04.3.
Tech had two other male finishers shuffle into the top 30; Nathan Carey (17th, 26:22.3) and Grant Brown (28th, 26:39.1). The men pushed to close the race in fourth place overall.
The teams will travel to the Roy Griak Invitational Saturday, Sept. 23 in Minneapolis, Minn. for their next race.
