The Upper Iowa cross country teams traveled north to Falcon Heights, Minn. for the 34th Annual Roy Griak Invitational hosted by the University of Minnesota on Saturday. The Peacock men placed 26th in their 28-team field with 849 points while the Peacock women earned a total of 803 points to finish 29th in their 32-team field. The majority of both fields were made up of NCAA Division I teams.
In the women's race, Augustana University had all five runners finish in the top-11 individual standings to claim the team title with 36 points and a 22:51.0 average. University of Mary's Ida Narbuvoll crossed the finish line first to fuel the Marauders to a second place team finish with 89 points and a 22:54.5 average.
The Vikings also won the men's title thanks to 42 points and a 25:35.4 average. Michigan Tech University finished in second place with 55 points, and University of Sioux Falls scored 96 points to claim third place. USF's Steven Brown clocked a 25:03.0 to win the men's individual championship.
Madison Brownrigg led the women's squad for the third straight meet with a time of 24:40.6 to finish 89th overall. Serianna Dehmlow placed 159th with a time of 26:19.4, Ashley Donovan ran the race in 26:30.9 to finish 168th, and Christonna Shafranski turned a time of 27:07.5 to place 183rd. Freshman Isabelle Gryga rounded out UIU's top-5 with a 28:25.0 time and 204th place finish, while Sidney Schnor also ran for the Peacocks (28:25.0).
The men were led by David Snider who cross the finish line in 30:05.5, good for 155th place. Grant Dieken (157th) finished right behind him in 30:14.7, Dalton Schaffer (155th) ran a 30:53.5, Samuel Thomas (184th) turned a time of 33:05.9, and Zach Dingbaum (186th) rounded out the top-5 in 34:33.0.
Upper Iowa will have one last tune-up at the Conference Crossover hosted by Lewis University on Oct. 12. before the NSIC Championships in late October.
