Viking men take fourth at Roy Griak Invitational race in Minnesota...

FALCON HEIGHTS, Minnesota—Western Washington’s Andrew Wise (above/photo courtesy Western Washington University) led he Vikings to a fourth place finish in the men’s Division II section of the Roy Griak Cross Country Invitational meet, hosted by the University of Minnesota Saturday, as he crossed the line in 16th place in a time of 26:33 over 8k.

After some minor confusion over the results of the meet, which initially had Western in 14th, the results were corrected and the Vikings finished with a final team score of 192 points, as USTFCCCA 18th ranked Augustana of South Dakota won with a score of 49 points.

Behind Wise were Dylan Hayes in 39th (26:58), Jadon Olson in 43rd (27:00), Liam Cossette in 45th (27:01), and Sean Eustis in 65th (27:16), giving them a 1-5 split of 43 seconds.

In the women’s Division II race, Lillianna Stelling was the Vikings’ first runner across the line in 28th place, clocking 23:28 over the 6k course at Les Bolstad Golf Course, as Western scored 205 points to finish seventh, with GNAC rival and number 5 ranked Simon Fraser winning the team title with a low score of 73 points.

Following Stelling were Alexandra Laiblin in 35th (23:39), Jane Barr in 41st (23:43), Tracy Melville in 53rd (23:54), and Peyton Shinnick in 60th (24:02), as Western had a 1-5 split of 34 seconds.

Alexis Zeis of the University of Mary was the overall winner in a time of 21:42, one second ahead of Simon Fraser’s Julia Howley.


In Lacey, both Western and Central Washington ran their second tier runners at the Saint Martin’s Classic, hosted by Saint Martin’s University on their campus course.

Emma Knudson of Linfield was the overall women’s winner over 5k, clocking 18:51, to lead her squad to the team title with a low score of 52 points.

Host Saint Martin’s was fourth with 128 points, led by Larissa Kolasinski’s sixth place finish in 19:16.

Western Washington was fifth with 131 points, led by Waverly Shreffler, who was fifth in 19:15. Central Washington was eighth with 230 points, as they were led by Brenna Liebel in 33rd place with a time of 20:27.

In the men’s 8k race, Eric Fitzpatrick of Southern Idaho led his squad to the overall team title by winning in a time of 26:15, as they scored 53 points.

Western Washington was second with 77 points, led by Peter Butler in 10th in a time of 27:18. Central Washington was sixth with 147 points, led by Henry Milodragovich in 23rd place in 27:49, while host Saint Martin’s was seventh with 172 points, led by Josh Hunt’s 12th place finish in 27:27.


NOTE:  The sports information offices of the University of Minnesota, Western Washington University, and Saint Martin’s University contributed to this report.

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