ST. BONIFACIUOS, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s and women’s cross country teams both took first place at the Crown College Invite on Saturday. The men posted a clean sweep with just 15 points, claiming the top seven times, while the women recorded 30 points with four runners in the top 10.
The men were led by Andrew Stumbo (Sr., Boone, Iowa) in first place with a time of 20:21.99. Henry Hinchcliffe (Jr., Austin) took second in 20:30.50, Bryce Knutson (Sr., Owatonna) took third in 20:44.86, Garet Grant (Sr., Winona) placed fourth in 20:46.88, and Casey Olson (Sr., Harmony) finished fifth in 20:48.90. Outside of the team scores, Jack DeGonda (Sr., Stillwater) crossed the line sixth in 21:02.03 and Matt Payne (Sr., Stillwater) took seventh in 21:11.61.
“I told the guys to have fun today and they really pushed each other, which was great to see,” Head Coach Brenden Huber said. “They had really good effort today and I’m excited to see them have that kind of success.”
UM-Morris took second with 62 points, UW-River Falls placed third at 64 points, followed by Crown in fourth (117) and Northland in fifth (145).
The Gustie women were paced by Mackinzee Miest (Sr., St. James) who took second place in 20:14.09. Evelyn Villalobos (So., Crystal) was right behind in third at 20:30.13, Julia Severson (Jr., St. Cloud) took fifth in 20:49.04, Taina Koivisto (Jr., Babbitt) placed ninth in 21:57.82, and Claire Schoenfield (So., Mundelein, Ill.) rounded out the scoring in 12th place at 22:15.05.
“I’m very proud of our women,” Huber said. “Three of our top six runners didn’t compete today so we found a way to win with the other girls on the team stepping up today. We were not winning in the first half of the race but they elevated in the second half. It wasn’t pretty but it was gritty.”
UM-Morris took second with 61 points, UW-River Falls placed third with 61, St. Catherine took fourth (104), Crown fifth (115), and Northland sixth (166).
The Gusties next compete Sept. 18 at St. Olaf.