Kevin Patzoldt finished second at the Saints Invitational.
Jens Brabbit turned in a third place finish with a time of 29:21.
Andrew Tilman had the third fastest Gustie time for eighth overall.
The Gustavus men’s nordic ski team missed first place at the Saints Invitational in Collegeville, Minn. on Sunday afternoon by one point behind the College of St. Scholastica. The Golden Gusties earned 71 points in the 12K Freestyle race, behind 72 points for St. Scholastica. Both schools had three skiers finish in the top eight, but the Saints’ third skier finished one place higher than the Gusties’ third skier for the team win.
Kevin Patzoldt (Sr., Grand Rapids, Minn.) beat out teammate Jens Brabbit (Fy., Winona, Minn.) by three seconds to capture second place with a time of 29:18. Andrew Tilman (Fy., St. Louis Park, Minn.) rounded out the top three for the Gusties with an eighth place finish in 30:42. Bjorn Bakken of St. Scholastica won the freestyle race with a time of 28:47.
Eli Anoszko (Jr., Dousman, Wis.) turned in another Gustavus top 20 time as he finished 17th with a 31:56 time. Gustavus had four skiers finish in the top 30, including Andrew Poffenberger (Fy., Stillwater, Minn.) at 22nd place (32:26), Logan Smestad (Fy., Northfield, Minn.) at 23rd place (32:28), Phil Cleary (Fy., Willmar, Minn.) at 28th place (32:57), and Dan Grannes (Fy., Apple Valley, Minn.) at 29th place (33:12). Adam Snyder (Fy., Plymouth, Minn.) and Derrick Berndt (Fy., Bloomington, Minn.) rounded out the remaining Gustie skiers with 34th (34:21) and 39th (35:40) place finishes.
Gustavus will travel to Coleraine, Minn. to compete in the NorAm SuperTour/NCAA Qualifier on Saturday, January 19 and Sunday, January 20.