Collegeville, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s cross country team finished third at the Saint John’s Invitational on Saturday morning. The Gusties accumulated a total of 81 team points, narrowly edging Concordia by one point. The host Saint John’s finished on top in the team scores (27), followed by St. Cloud State (62). Trailing Gustavus were Concordia (82) and Valley City State (118).
The Gustie’s top five runners all recorded finishing times within 31 seconds of each other. Ranging from 28:05 to 28:36, the Gustavus top five finished 17th, 21st, 22nd, 25th, and 27th. Joseph Renier (Jr., Cambridge, Minn.) was the only Gustie to crack the top 20 on the day. Renier finished 17th with a time of 28:05.
“We shook up our top five quite a bit from last week,” stated head coach Dale Bahr. “What that shows us is depth. We had five guys within 30 seconds today, where generally our spread has been more around a minute in the past.” Bahr added to his thoughts in regards to the day, saying, “I was very pleased with how they ran as a pack and pushed themselves today.”
The Gusties will be in action again next weekend, traveling to Northfield to compete at the St. Olaf Invitational on Saturday morning.