Tech XC: No. 15 Men’s Team Makes History; Women Place Fourth Overall

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. -- The Michigan Tech men's and women's cross country teams showed out at the historic Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minnesota, on Friday afternoon. The No. 15 men of Michigan Tech made history by winning their first-ever Jo Rider men's Maroon Race. The women improved five spots from last year's results, placing fourth as a team.

"Our men and women are firing on all cylinders right now," head coach Kristina Owens said. "On both sides, the teams have gelled around a common vision of performance excellence, and you can see it in the way they race together to the common goal. We're very excited to take home the team win on the men's side, a first in program history at this storied meet!

"The athletic department also invested in expanded mental skills education through the Restoic app, and we've been integrating that into our weekly training. We're hearing from many athletes that it's making a crucial difference in their performance mindsets."

The men started the day as the skies cleared just before the sound of the starting gun. The Huskies got out well with the top-three within the top-11 spots, fourth in the team race.

The race began to settle by the next marker at the 3,000m point, Drew Kolodge moved up to third-place, with senior Clayton Sayen also moving up five spots to be in seventh. As a team, the Black & Gold moved up to second-place.

A monumental leap came at the 5,000m marker with the Huskies as a team having the lowest point total, down to 62 points as Kolodge and Sayen moved to third and fourth place, respectively. Sam Lange moved up seven spots to hold down 13th place.

Of note, the Huskies' top five were all within the top 25, with Tucker Ringhand (20th) and Nick Mckenzie (25th). The duo moved up multiple spots in the 2,000m since the last marker.

Despite the scoring runners changing positions over the final 3,000m, the point score would stay the same, granting Michigan Tech their first Roy Griak Invitational win.

Division III Wisconsin La Crosse, most recently tabbed fourth in the USTFCCCA national poll, claimed second with 77 points, 15 back from the Huskies. Central region contenders, Sioux Falls rounded out the top three with 96 points.

Sayen, the 2021 Jo Rider men's Maroon Race champion, was short of victory on the day but bettered his time from last year, clocking in at 25:11.1 to take runner-up honors. Kolodge was close behind to take third (25:13.3), Lange's eighth-place performance (25:40.6) showed three Huskies within the top 10. The scorers for the Black & Gold would finish within the top-30, with Ringhand being the fourth runner in for the Huskies in 22nd place (26:09.2), Nick McKenzie was eight seconds back, taking 29th place (26:17.8).

The average time of the top-seven runners was a blistering 25:42.4.

Following the impressive efforts from the men, with continuing clear skies the women would head to the starting line for their race.

The women turned out an eye-opening fourth-place finish, scoring 132 points. The Huskies fourth-place finish was highlighted by besting two nationally-ranked teams in No. 14 UMary and No. 27 Minnesota State.

"Our women also raced well, coming in 4th, which ties our historic best finish from back in 2018. They beat a couple of highly ranked teams from the Central regional, which should help us move up in the rankings and assist in a bid for the National Championships," Owens added.

Senior Michelle Bollini was the low-stick for the Huskies, remaining within the top-17 the entirety of the race, crossing the line in 13th-place (22:57.3). Senior Sam Kurkowski ran the majority of the race with Bollini, finishing 10 seconds back in 17th place (23:07.8).

Jesse Jacobusse was the Huskies third-runner on the day, placing 26th overall in 23:33.8. Sophomore Elsa Huckles covered the course in 23:38.5 to place 30th overall and fourth for the Black & Gold. Hannah Loughlin rounded out the scoring for Michigan Tech, dipping under 24 minutes (23:59.5) to place 47th overall.

The Huskies' top seven finished within the top 65 spots with Anabel Needham (24:08.1) and Cedar Gordon (24:18.1) placing 56th and 65th, respectively.

The average time over the 6,000m course for the Huskies was 23:27.4.

The Huskies return to action in two weeks, traveling to Romeoville, Illinois, for the Lewis Crossover on Saturday, Oct. 8.