NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s cross country team took fifth place out of 20 teams at the St. Olaf Invitational on Saturday, scoring 117 points. The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire won the event, Michigan Tech took second, and Minnesota-Duluth placed third. Host St. Olaf was in fourth place, 19 points ahead of Gustavus.
Thomas Knobbe (Sr., Decorah, Iowa) continued to impress as he placed third overall with a time of 25:47, 20 seconds behind the winner Darin Lau of UW-Eau Claire. Evan Jones (Sr., Pella, Iowa) was the second Gustie to cross the line, finishing in 14th place with a time of 26:15. Carston Dammann (Sr., Lake City, Minn.) took 20th in 26:31, Alex Wischnack (So., Norwood, Minn.) placed 31st in 26:55, and Alex Fredrickson (Sr., Victoria, Minn.) was the fifth Gustie to finish, taking 58th in 27:37.
“This senior class is really getting it down and teaching the younger class what we expect out of them,” Head Coach Dale Bahr said. “Last year we had a good team on the men’s side but were kind of in uncharted territory. They just weren’t as consistent. This year we have a very good team and they expect each other to be consistent, and we are seeing that happen. UW-Eau Claire is one of the top teams in the country, Michigan Tech and Duluth are Division II schools, and St. Olaf is currently ranked sixth in the country. So to finish right behind those quality teams says a lot about our program. We are no longer flying under the radar and we just need to prove it.”
Gustavus has next weekend off and then returns to the course Oct. 1 at Carleton.