The University of Minnesota’s annual Roy Griak Invitational is back for the 34th year this Saturday, September 28th at Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights with top-notch collegiate and prep competition. 

WATCH THE 2019 ROY GRIAK XC INVITATIONAL LIVE ON FLOTRACK

Women’s Gold 6K: Columbia takes on home team Minnesota

The Minnesota women entered the fall ranked No. 18 in the FloXC Team Rankings, but dropped out of the top 25 after top two runners Bethany and Megan Hasz competed unattached at their home opener. The twins, both of whom are in their senior year and appear to redshirting, are entered unattached in this race, but their absence from the team score means the Columbia women have a strong shot at stealing this race from their host.

The Columbia Lions come to Minnesota fresh off a 45-point win at the Iona Meet of Champions, where they swept the top three places. Lead duo Katie Wasserman and Alexandra Hays should battle for the individual win here. Nabbing a team title at Griak would represent a solid step for the New York crew, currently unranked on FloTrack but returns five women from the squad that won both Heps and NCAA Northeast title before placing 18th at NCAA XC.

Still, they’ll have their work cut out for them—Minnesota boasts a strong team led by Anastasia Korzenowski and Jaycie Thomsen, who went 1-2 ahead of the Hasz sisters at the Oz Memorial Run.

Other individuals to watch include San Francisco’s Aoibhe Richardson, a transfer from Portland, a 16:16 5K runner who was 57th at the 2018 NCAA XC Championships; North Dakota State’s Kelby Anderson, third at Roy Griak last year and ninth in the NCAA Midwest Region; and Cal Baptist’s Anett Somogyi, a multiple-time DII All-American who was fifth at Roy Griak last year.

Men’s Gold 8K: No. 24 Southern Utah men lead the field

The Southern Utah men are the class of the field at Roy Griak, and should prove on Saturday why they’ve earned a No. 24 FloXC ranking. This weekend could be the first time they debut their full squad as top contributors Josh Collins, Nate Osterstock and Christian Ricketts are scheduled to open their seasons, though last year’s No. 1 in Aidan Reed (51st at 2018 NCAA XC) is not listed in entries.

Expect to see an unfamiliar name up front duking it out with Southern Utah’s top harriers—fellow “Thunderbird” Kieran Lumb, a native of Canada who competes in the NAIA for the University of British Columbia.

The junior is the reigning NAIA 5K champion and owns legit PRs of 13:40.51 for 5K, 32:22.6 for 10K and 3:45.86 for 1500m. He was fifth in both the 1500m and 5K at the Canadian National Championships this past July, and placed fourth in the 5K at the international Summer Universiade in Italy. He did not compete last cross country season, but placed third at the NAIA National XC Championships in 2017.

Another top athlete to watch is Andy Snyder, a graduate student using his fifth year at San Francisco after spending his undergraduate eligibility at the University of Washington. Snyder, who has run 29:23.43 for 10K and 14:24.35 for 5K, showed impressive improvement last cross country season with a 67th-place finish at NCAA XC, 30th-place finish at the NCAA West Region and a 17th-place run at the Pac-12 Championships.