Cross Country Teams Back In Action This Weekend At St. Olaf Invitational Posted on September 19th, 2013 by Ethan Armstrong

St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s and women’s cross country teams are ready to get back on the course this weekend when they travel to Northfield, Minn. to take part in the St. Olaf Invitational.  The women’s 6k race will begin at 10:00 a.m., while the men’s 8k race will take place after at 10:45 a.m.

This weekend’s meet will be Gustavus’s first time on the course since taking part in the Saint John’s Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 7.   The Gustie women placed second (50 pts.) out of six teams at the SJU Invite, while the men finished third (53 pts.) out of five teams.

For her performance in Collegeville , junior Caitlin Fermoyle (Mendota Heights, Minn.) was named the MIAC Women’s Cross Country Athlete-of-the-Week.  Fermoyle led the Gusties with a runner-up finish in 23:35.  She was the top NCAA Division III runner at the meet and was one of just two runners to break the 24-minute mark.

Senior captain Joe Renier (Cambridge, Minn.) turned in the team’s top performance on the men’s side.  Renier was the top Division III runner as well, crossing the finish line second with a time of 27:22.  His showing was the best by a Gustavus runner at the Saint John’s Invitational in the past decade.

At last season’s St. Olaf Invitational, both the men’s and the women’s teams finished sixth overall.  The men’s squad placed sixth out of 21 teams with 193 points, while the women’s team placed sixth out of 24 teams with 165 points.

Top returners from last year’s sixth place men’s squad include Joe Renier and Leighton Becher (Jr., Woodbury, Minn.).  Renier ran in 47^th overall (27:34.7), and Becher took 52^nd (27:47.3).

From the women’s team, Caitlin Fermoyle and Rebecca Hare (Jr., Albany, Minn.) led the way a season ago in Northfield.  Fermoyle cracked the top 20 in 14^th (23:23.2), while Hare was next in line in 24^th (23:42.1).

The Gustavus women’s cross country team will enter this weekend ranked No. 5 in the Central Region according to the first USTFCCCA Women’s Cross Country Regional Team Rankings released on Tuesday, Sept. 17.  MIAC teams St. Olaf (2) and Carleton (3) came in ahead of the Gusties on the first poll of the 2013 season.