Boise State freshman Allie Ostrander finished second to lead the Broncos to the team title

Boise State Broncos Upset NCAA Defending Champions Michigan State

The Boise State women’s team made some noise in the Jack Johnson Women’s Gold race by taking the team title over 2014 NCAA Champions Michigan State at the 2015 Roy Griak Invitational.

Related: FULL RESULTS ROY GRIAK INVITATIONAL

Led by 2014 NXN Champion Allie Ostrander’s runner-up finish, the Broncos scored 37 points, placing five in the top 20 (And heck even their sixth runner was 22nd place!). Let’s just compare this result with last year’s finish. In 2014, the MSU women dominated every race they entered, including winning Roy Griak with 66 points over Iowa State’s 102. With a similar field of talent today in Minnesota, the Broncos not only bettered MSU’s 2014 score, but they beat the next best team by 79 points. We have them ranked No. 16 in the Saucony Flo50 but after today will Boise State be a top 10 team?

After Ostrander’s 21:10 second place finish, freshman Annie Bothma finished third (21:19), Lamar transfer Minttu Hukka sixth, freshman Brenna Peloquin 10th and junior Anna Holdiman 16th. Fun fact: Ostrander was reportedly sick with food poisoning just two days ago and still took down one of the NCAA’s most talented, MSU’s Rachele Schulist.

Schulist led the Spartans by finishing fifth in 21:32, almost a minute slower than her 2014 fifth place finish on this course. However this is a different Spartan team. There’s no Leah O’Connor stride for stride with Schulist, and today they raced without All American Lindsay Clark, who reportedly is battling an injury, and NCAA top 60 finisher Katie Landwehr. Losing these two essential players could be detrimental in the Spartans hopes of reaching the podium again this fall. Results will show in the coming weeks whether they are healthy or not.

Taking the individual title today was California sophomore No. 17 Bethan Knights. Knights, who was 25th in Terre Haute last fall as a true freshman, took down the field by winning in 20:54. She looked stronger than ever over the Griak hills and propelled the Cal Bears to a fifth place finish, seven places better than their finish in 2014, where Knights was 15th in the field.

Home team Minnesota finished third with 141 points and Weber State a surprise fourth with 147 points. 

Colorado State Goes 1-2, Michigan State Wins Tight Team Battle

It was a tight team battle during the Merrill Fischbein Men’s Gold competition but it was the Michigan State Spartans, fourth in this race in 2014, who came away victorious at the Roy Griak Invitational. MSU put four in the top 14, led by junior TJ Carey and freshman Ryan Robinson’s seventh and eighth place finishes. What is even more impressive is that the Spartans were without All American Caleb Rhynard, who did not compete today. Add Rhynard into the mix and this group could make some noise in the Big 10 conference. The Spartans totaled 74 points, just ahead of No. 17 Southern Utah (88), No. 21 California (94), No. 23 Colorado State (96) and Minnesota (107).

While the Colorado State men may be disappointed with their fourth-place team finish, they have a few things to celebrate. The 1-2 punch of Jefferson Abbey, who completed the 8K course in 24:52, and Jerrell Mock, who was right behind in 24:56, led the way for the Rams. Though the duo couldn’t elevate their team to a victory, it must be noted that their third, fourth, and fifth runners Carson Hume (27th), Eric Hamer (31st) and Cole Rockhold (35th) are all of freshman eligibility and the Rams were racing without one of their top returners Grant Fischer.

NCAA All American Trent Lusignan of South Dakota State finished fourth in his first major competition since the 2013 season. Lusignan was 12th at the NCAA Championships in 2013 and redshirted all of last fall. The last time he raced at Roy Griak in 2013 he was 19th, so a fourth-place finish this season is a good indication that Lusignan could be a top 10 contender come November.

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