ST. BONIFACIOUS, Minn. – The Gustavus men’s and women’s cross country teams Saturday both took first of three teams at the Crown College Invitational. The Gustie men totaled 17 points with St. Thomas taking second at 46 points and Martin Luther with 85 points. The Gustie women posted 16 points compared to 51 by Crown and 74 from Martin Luther.
“We executed our plan well and a lot of good things happened today on both the men’s and women’s side” Head Coach Brenden Huber said. “We took another step forward as a team and many individuals improved their times. It was a good opportunity for us to compete early in the season and we’re looking forward to the next challenge.”
In the women’s race, the Gusties had the four fastest times with Kourtney Kulseth (Jr., New Richland, Minn.) leading the pack at 19:46.53. Tierney Winter (Sr., Waterville, Minn.) took second at 20:07.44, Carissa Vanderwal (Fy., Ortonville, Minn.) crossed the finish line third at 20:44.96, and Julia Severson (Fy., St. Cloud, Minn.) placed fourth at 20:54.43. Iliana Ramon (So., Fairmont, Minn.) rounded out the point-scorers for the Gusties, taking sixth in 21:22.79.
The Black and Gold men claimed the top-three times with Andrew Stumbo (Jr., Boone, Iowa) winning the race in 20:45.35. Garet Grant (So., Winona, Minn.) took second in 20:53.62 and Jack Degonda (So., Marine on St. Croix, Minn.) finished third in 20:56.29. Tucker Wallin (Fy., Red Wing, Minn.) and Ben Wicklund (So., Marine on St. Croix, Minn.) took fifth and sixth, respectively, in 20:57.52 and 20:58.07.
Gustavus is next in action Sept. 21 at Carleton’s Running of the Cows.