The Gustavus men’s cross country team got off to a solid start in its 2009 season with a first place finish out of four teams at the Northland College Invite in Ashland, Wisconsin on Tuesday. Gustavus was led by Mark Hartman and Anders Bowman who finished first and second overall with times of 27:52 and 28:05, respectively.
The Gusties dominated the race as five runners placed in the top seven including Hartman in first, Bowman in second, John Kennedy in fourth (28:47), Carson Smith in sixth (29:07) and Mark Bartley in seventh (29:12). Ten Gustavus runners placed in the top 20 spots at the meet.
Head Coach Dale Bahr was very pleased by the team’s performance. He stated, “This group really stepped up and showed us they were ready to compete.” He added, “Our summer mileage was way up and it showed in our performance today on a very challenging course.”
The Gusties totaled 20 points as a team, followed by the College of Saint Scholastica (62), UW-Superior (68), and Northland College (92). Gustavus runs again on September, 12 as Caoch Bahr and the Gusties host the Alumni Meet starting at 10:30 am.