Michigan Tech Competes at Blugold Invitational
EAU CLAIRE, Wis. – The Michigan Tech men's and women's cross country teams competed on Friday at the Blugold Invitational, hosted at the Whitetail Golf Course by the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Juniors Amanda Kautzer and Zach Werth had the highest finishes on the women's and men's teams, respectively.
A junior from Plymouth, Minn., Kautzer crossed the finish line of the women's 6K race at 23:00.6 to finish 24th. Meanwhile, Werth, a native of Highland, Mich., clocked in at 26:39.3 to finish 86th in the men's 8K race.
In addition to Kautzer, nine women ran in today's race for the Huskies. Freshman Sophia Mazzoni crossed the line in 86th with a time of 24:20.6, followed by freshman Molly Greene in 104th with a time of 24:38.3. Other runners for the Huskies at the Invitational were junior Katherine Schneider (24:48.4), freshman Henriette Semb (24:49.4), freshman Jess Illg (25:17.5), sophomore Zoe Reep (25:19.2), freshman Emma Albrecht (25:28.1), and sophomore Mary Lyon (26:20.2).
Werth was one of 16 runners for the Michigan Tech men's team to run on Friday. Freshman Nick McKenzie (27:04.0), freshman Robert Dwyer (27:06.5), senior Bernard Kluskens (27:11.0), junior Reid Goble (27:39.9), junior Mark Ousdigian (27:53.7), sophomore Patrick Acton (27:57.5), senior Aiden Truettner (27:58.4), junior Somer Schrock (28:09.0), junior Jon Gietek (28:33.9), freshman Aleksi Leino (28:47.4), junior Eric Houck (28:49.4), junior Tres Green (28:58.9), junior Joshua Albrecht (29:04.0), senior Brad Baas (29:10.9), and sophomore Hunter Dercks (29:42.4) all ran for the Michigan Tech men Friday afternoon.
As a team, the MTU women finished 10th with 332 points. They placed 22 points behind Wisconsin-Whitewater and 27 points ahead of Hamline. The Michigan Tech men scored 513 points on the day to place them 18th, 34 points head of Lakehead Universiy and 35 points behind St. John's (Minn.).
"We had a really nice day for the crews that raced. There were a lot of personal bests and huge breakthroughs for our squads," said head coach Jake Isaacson. "Amanda had a nice opener for her season, and Zach is rounding back into the runner that we're used to him being. Even our redshirts had some great performances, showing that their hard work is paying off."
The Huskies will be heading to Romeoville, Illinois next Saturday (Oct. 12) for the Conference Crossover Invitational, hosted by Lewis University. The women's 6K race will begin at 10 a.m. CST, and the men will follow at 10:45 a.m. in the 8K race.