ETTRICK, Wis. – The Gustavus Adolphus men’s cross country team scored 186 points to take seventh place out of 21 teams at the Jim Drews Invitational on Saturday at the Ettrick Golf Club. The Gusties placed three runners inside the top-30 to help the team improve upon its 14th place finish from last season’s result in Ettrick.
“While we ran well, I do think we are a better team than we may have shown today,” said Coach Dale Bahr. “This team has high expectations for itself and as much as this was a step in the right direction, we also have more work to do in the next two weeks before conference. The team is not satisfied with its performance even though we ran well…that just shows the expectation we have to be good.”
As he has done for a majority of the year, Paul Nordquist (Sr., Edina, Minn.) paced the Gusties on the day. Nordquist finished the 8k race in 25:31, good for a 22nd place finish. Thomas Knobbe (Jr., Decorah, Iowa) was just one second behind Nordquist, crossing the finish line in 25:32, resulting in a 24th place finish. Evan Jones (Jr., Pella, Iowa) was right on their heels with a 25:37 and 26th place finish. Marcus Speca (Sr., Minnetonka, Minn.) followed with a 26:10 and 46th place finish and Carston Dammann (So., Lake City, Minn.) rounded out the Gustie top-5 after finishing in 26:43, good for 68th place overall.
“From a coaching standpoint, I’m seeing this team come together very nicely,” said Bahr. “They’re running as a team and that’s one of things that’s very exciting to see. It is also what gives them the confidence to do better than what they showed today. So, while I’m very proud of how they performed, again, we also know there’s much more work to be done. We need to continue reducing our spread and everyone on the team needs to do their job if we expect to reach our goal. The team knows it, they’re driven by it, and are certainly moving in the right direction.”
Gustavus will return to the course on Saturday, Oct. 31 for the MIAC Championships which will be held at Como Park in St. Paul, Minn.