Griak Invitational Results

Minneapolis, Minn. - The University of Wisconsin-La Crosse men's cross country squad captured the University of Minnesota Roy Griak Invitational Saturday morninng at Les Bolstad Golf Course. The Eagles totaled 45 team points to win the title with UW-Platteville finishing second with 96. A total of 27 teams competed.

UW-Eau Claire finished third (102 points) followed by Central College, Iowa fourth (103) and UW-Stout fifth (141). Wartburg College, Iowa) placed sixth (194) with St. Olaf College, Minn. (206), Bethel University, Minn. (257), UW-Whitewater (300) and Bridgewater College, Va. (307) rounding out the top-10.

Josh Kaul led UW-L with a second-place finish at 25:38.3 on the 8,000-meter course. The Eagles' Josh Dedering placed fifth (25:55.2), Tom Linner ninth (26:07.4), Mark Punzenberger 13th (26:15.3), Garrett Kerska 16th (26:23.6), Nate Routhier 22nd (26:31.3) and Justin Lauria-Banta 25th (26:38.5).

Other finishers for UW-L included Jacob Peterson 44th (27:06.2), Eric Lauria-Banta 59th (27:23.2), Hayden Troy 69th (27:34.2), Gerald Kerska 77th (27:41.2) and Andrew Rohlman 108th (28:06.7).

"We took the reigns off today," said UW-L head coach Derek Stanley. "The men established their position and executed the race strategy well.  This is a great start for our push to the end of the season."

Tim Nelson of UW-Stout won the individual title (25:32.9). A total of 272 runners competed.

UW-L returns to action Saturday, October 13 hosting the Jim Drews Invitational at Maple Grove Golf Course in West Salem starting at 10:30 a.m.