Pella, Iowa – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s cross country team posted a team score of 85 to finish in third place out of seven teams at the Central Dutch Invitational held Saturday morning at the A.N. Kyper Athletics Complex. The Gusties finished 50 points behind second place Loras College (35 pts.), while host Central College won the meet with a score of 25.
Like he did at the Gustie Invitational last weekend, Thomas Knobbe (So., Decorah, Iowa) led the Gusties on the day. Knobbe finished ninth overall by finishing the 8k race in 26:25, just one second behind eighth place finisher Steve Loran of Loras and a little over :40 seconds behind meet champion Isaac Steffensmeier of Central. Paul Nordquist (Jr., Edina, Minn.) came in second on the team with a 26:43 for an 11th place overall finish. Evan Jones (So., Pella, Iowa) took 18th by recording a 27:13, Carston Dammann (Lake City, Minn.) was 27th with a 27:59 and Sam Benson (So., Moorhead, Minn.) rounded out the scoring for the Gusties by placing 34th with a time of 28:08.
Gustavus posted a total time of 2:16:31 for an average of 27:19 in the squad’s first 8k length race of the season.
The Gusties will now have two full weeks of training before their next outing, which is set to take place on Saturday, Sept. 20 when the men’s and women’s cross country teams will travel to Northfield, Minnesota to compete in the St. Olaf Invitational. Races will begin at 10 a.m. on the morning of the 20th.