Dan Nielson and Breanna Colbenson have been setting the bar for the UMD men and women’s cross-country teams throughout the first month of the season. That trend continued Saturday at the Roy Griak Invitational on a rain-soaked course in Falcon Heights, Minn. Behind Colbenson’s 6K time of 22:16—the fourth-best mark in the 356-runner field—the Bulldog women placed second out of 33 schools, succumbing only to NSIC rival Augustana. UMD had three racers finish in the top 12—Colbenson, Alexandra Rudin, who was 10th, and Samantha Rivard, who was 12th. Kaelyn Williams (44th) and Hannah Olson (51st) rounded out UMD’s top-five finishers.
Nielson completed the 8K men’s course in 26:22, which placed him first among UMD representatives and 34th among the event’s 450 total runners. Mitch Fisher and Mitch Zuidema finished 90th and 96th for the Bulldog men, who ended the Roy Griak 15th out of the 40 schools to compete.
The UMD men and women will race again Oct. 12 at the Lucian Rosa Invitational hosted by Wisconsin-Parkside in Somers, Wis.
BY KYLE FARRIS farri060@d.umn.edu