St. Peter, Minn. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s and women’s cross country teams are ready for a return to the course this weekend when they travel to Ettrick, Wis. on Saturday, Oct. 18. The Gustie men will compete in the Jim Drews Invitational beginning at 10:30 a.m., while the Gustie women will take part in the Tori Neubauer Invitational set to start after at 11:30 a.m. The race will be held at the Ettrick Golf Club located approximately 30 miles northeast of the UW-La Crosse campus.
Both Gustavus squads were in action two weekends ago at the UW-Eau Claire Blugold Invitational held Friday, Oct. 3 in Colfax, Wis. The women posted a ninth place finish out of 24 teams with a score of 272, while the men came in 11th of 25 with a score of 284.
Against a 409 participant field – the Gusties’ toughest competition of the season – Caitlin Fermoyle (Sr., Mendota Heights, Minn.) led the women’s team with a 12th place finish in a season-best time of 22:55.6. Thomas Knobbe (So., Decorah, Iowa) led led the way on the men’s side with a season-best performance by placing 25th out of 410 runners in 26:01.2.
Head coach Dale Bahr’s women’s squad will look to improve upon its 13th place finish at the Tori Neubauer invite in 2013. The Gusties’ top returner from that team is Fermoyle, who led the team in 25th with a time of 22:51.9.
The Gustavus men will also seek improvement at this year’s Jim Drews Invite following an 18th place finish with a score of 511 last season. Knobbe is the top returning men’s runner from the 2013 meet, posting a 74th place finish in 26:40.9.
Much like he saw in their performances at the Blugold Invitational to kick off October, Coach Bahr is hoping to see improvement across the board this weekend in Ettrick. Saturday’s events have the added importance of being each team’s final outing before taking part in the 2014 MIAC Championships on Saturday, Nov. 1 in St. Paul’s Como Park.
For more information on this weekend’s races including course maps, directions and parking information, please follow the link below.