Weekend Recap: Roy Griak Invitational, John McNichols Invitational Headline Action

Cross country is back and the season is heating up.

We’re going to see some high quality racing over the next few months across the nation leading up to the various collegiate championships.

From The USTFCCCA InfoZone: Meets & Results

This week promises to deliver with the Roy Griak Invitational in Falcon Heights, Minnesota, and the John McNichols Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, among others. The former is in its 38th iteration, while the latter will serve as an initial course preview for the NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships in just over two months.

Let us highlight some of the biggest moments from the weekend.

Roy Griak Invitational

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

Men’s Gold 8k

Mohamed Guled of Utah Valley bided his time.

So did the Wyoming Cowboys, for that matter.

Once both hit the 5k mark at the Les Bolstad Golf Course, they went to work.

Guled dropped the pack and raced to his second win of the young season, crossing the finish line in 24:55.3, 5.9 seconds ahead of runner-up Lars Mitchel of Colorado State. Back on August 30, Guled earned the first victory of his collegiate career at the UVU XC Collegiate Invitational. (To wit: Guled is the third runner from the Mountain Region to win the individual title at the Griak Invitational in the past four years, joining Conner Mantz of BYU in 2021 and Habtom Samuel of New Mexico in 2023.)

Team champion Wyoming sat second at the 3k split, 44 points behind then-leader Navy. By the 5k split, the Cowboys took the lead by five points thanks to having three runners in the top-10. Wyoming held off a strong challenge from the Midshipmen down the stretch to win by eight points, 63-71. This was the first Griak Invitational title for the Cowboys in program history.

Women’s Gold 8k

Ali Weimer and Emma Atkinson put Minnesota back on top at the Roy Griak Invitational.

Weimer and Atkinson finished 1-2 to lead the Golden Gophers to their first team title at their prestigious meet since 2021. The former crossed the finish line in 21:08.5 to become the first Minnesota runner to win the race since Bethany Hasz in 2018. Atkinson finished 5.2 seconds behind in 21:13.7. Weimer and Atkinson were two of four Minnesota runners in the top-15 on Friday.

No. 25 Utah Valley led the Golden Gophers by two points at the 5k split, 56-58. Minnesota turned the tables over the final 1k as Brianne Brewster and Erin Reidy combined to move up 12 places over that span and send their team to victory, 47-53. Reidy did most of the heavy lifting with her ten-spot improvement from 24th to 14th thanks to a 3:47.2 split, the second fastest on the team (Atkinson was 3:42.6).

Men’s Maroon 8k

Northwest Missouri said enough is enough.

The 19th-ranked Bearcats dropped the hammer on the competition over the final 5k of the Men’s Maroon 8k at the Roy Griak Invitational. Northwest Missouri was entrenched in a close battle with Central Missouri at the 3k split, but then gapped the field by 55 points by the end (No. 26 Michigan Tech finished second). The Bearcats went 2-3-4-11-16 for 36 points – the second fewest scored by a winning team in race history (Augustana (S.D.) holds the record at 35 points from its win back in 1993).

Ryan Hartman of Augustana (S.D.) pulled away over the final 3k to win the individual title, improving upon his runner-up finish last year. Hartman was lockstep with Cosmas Kipop of Central Missouri at the 5k split before surging ahead with a 9:19.9 split to win by 13 seconds over Grant Bradley of Northwest Missouri (Kipop faded to sixth).

Women’s Maroon 8k

Augustana (S.D.) showed why its ranked fourth in the National Coaches’ Poll.

The Vikings rolled to victory on Friday at the Roy Griak Invitational, winning by 48 points over No. 14 U-Mary, 45-93. No. 22 Winona State finished third with 102 points. It was Augustana (S.D.)’s fifth team title at the meet in program history – third in the past five years – and perhaps its most dominating. The Vikings put four runners in the scored top-10 to finish with 45 points, the second fewest by a winning team since 1993. Ella Bakken led the way in third place.

U-Mary had a formidable 1-2 punch with individual champion Alyssa Becker and fourth-place finisher Kristine Kalthoff at the top of the lineup. Becker trailed eventual individual runner-up Kaylee Beyer by 4.5 seconds at the 5k split before catching her and putting 10.5 seconds between them for a 15-second swing over the final 1k. Becker has been a stalwart at the Griak Invitational over her career, finishing no worse than fourth in her four years at the meet.

John McNichols Invitational

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS FROM THE MEET

Men’s 8k Recap

UW-La Crosse took on all comers on Saturday and walked away with an impressive win.

The Eagles, who were ranked No. 1 in the most recent NCAA DIII National Coaches’ Poll, put four runners in the top-15 and beat No. 2 Wartburg, 52-84. No. 6 North Central (Ill.) was third with 116 points. Grant Matthai led the way for UW-La Crosse with a runner-up individual finish, while brother Aidan Matthai also placed in the top-10 in eighth.

Nathan Tassey of Roger Williams earned the individual title in 23:57.8.

Women’s 6k Recap

Michigan made quick work of the competition on Saturday.

The Wolverines, who received votes in the most recent NCAA DI National Coaches’ Poll, packed the top-10 with seven athletes – including individual champion Rylee Tolson – as they romped to a 27-107 victory over Indiana State. Tolson covered the course in 20:53.3.

Perhaps more notable was the race behind the race with the staggering amount of top-ranked NCAA DIII programs in the field previewing the same course that will host the upcoming NCAA DIII Cross Country Championships. No. 17 Colorado College posted the best finish by an NCAA DIII team with 160 points, eight fewer than No. 2 UChicago and 17 fewer than No. 1 NYU.

Woody Greeno/Jay Dirksen Invitational

CLICK HERE FOR RESULTS OF THE MEET

Men’s 8k

Geofrey Ronoh’s tour of victories made its latest stop at the Mahoney Park Golf Course in Lincoln, Neb.

Ronoh is now three-for-three individually in three different states, this time leading a 1-2-3 by Iowa Western CC, which is ranked No. 1 in the NJCAA DI. Ronoh covered the 8k tract in 23:42.0, which was 29.5 seconds ahead of teammate Barnabas Ndiwa (24:11.5) with Mackdonald Songok (24:41.2) taking third. Mohammed Kowa was sixth (24:48.7), fueling the 45-point score for the team-champion Reivers.

Co-host Nebraska was runner-up was next with 65 points ahead of NCAA DI No. 30 Air Force (129), Neb.-Kearney (143) and NAIA No. 2 Saint Mary (Kan.) (158).

Women’s 5k

Nebraska, a co-host of this meet with Nebraska Wesleyan, won the women’s competition for the first time since 2011, scoring 39 points as No. 30 Iowa State was runner-up with 66. Northern Colorado (117), Drake (126) and NAIA No. 1 Saint Mary (Kan.) (131) rounded out the overall team top-5. Nebraska earned the Red Division team trophy, while Saint Mary captured the Gold Division.

Individual honors went to Regina Mpigachai of Northern Colorado, who more than doubled her lead at 3k (17.8 seconds) to winning margin of 36.4 seconds with her 17:01.0 time for 5k. The Husker duo of Ali Bainbridge (17:37.4) and Brynna McQuillen (17:44.3) were next as Nebraska had all five scorers among the top-13.