Junior Caitlin Fermoyle followed her first place finish a year ago with a runner-up performance at this season's SJU Invite on Saturday. She led the Gusties to a second place finish at the meet. Photo courtesy of Tyler Grey.
Collegeville, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus women’s cross country team finished runner-up at the Saint John’s Invitational for the second straight season on Saturday afternoon at the Radio Tower Fields. The Gusties finished with a team score of 50, just four points behind first place University of Minnesota Duluth who scored a 46. Rounding out the top three was the College of Saint Benedict with a score of 55.
After a show-stealing first place finish at the SJU Invite a year ago, Gustavus’s Caitlin Fermoyle (Jr., Mendota Heights, Minn.) followed up with a runner-up performance on Saturday. Fermoyle crossed the finished line in 23:35, placing second behind UMD’s Breanna Colbenson who won the race with a time of 23:03. St. Cloud State’s Sam Sunstrom rounded out the podium in third after posting a time of 24:07.
Along with a Bulldog and a Huskie, Gusties filled up the top five by taking the fourth and fifth spots. Rebecca Hare (Jr., Albany, Minn.) finished fourth with a time of 24:10, while Marit Sonnesyn (So., Plymouth, Minn.) took fifth with a time of 24:20.
Lauren Shurson (So., Chanhassen, Minn.) and MaKena Hofer (So., Montevideo, Minn.) rounded out the Black and Gold’s top five finishers. Shurson placed 21st (25:19), and Hofer finished 22nd (25:22).
Gustavus posted a total time of 2:02:46.00 in the club’s first 6k race of the year. The Gusties averaged a time of 24:33.20 per runner.
The Gusties will now have 14 days of training before their next outing set to take place on Saturday, Sept. 21. The men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Northfield, Minn. to compete in the St. Olaf Invitational set to begin at 10:00 a.m.