Spartans Travel to Roy Griak Invitational
9/23/2016 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
East Lansing, Mich. â€" The Michigan State men's and women's cross country teams return to action on Saturday, Sept. 24, traveling to Minneapolis, Minn., for the Roy Griak Invitational at the Les Bolstad Golf Course. The men will start the meet with the 8,000 meter race at 1:20 p.m. ET, while the women's 6,000 meter race begins at 2:30 p.m. ET.
"This is arguably one of the most competitive meets in the country for this early in the season," said Director of Cross Country Walt Drenth. "It is a preview of the conference meet course because the University of Minnesota hosts the Big Ten Championships.
"There are a few things we are looking for on Saturday. We are looking for ways to grow between now and the conference meet. We are looking for an opportunity to score some points against some other teams that are not in our region to accumulate points for our national qualifying process."
Both the men's and women's team have cracked the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) Top 30 poll. The men slid in to the 30th ranked position for Week Two, the poll came out Sept. 20. For the second-straight week in a row the women are slated ninth in the nation, the first out of five Big Ten Schools.
Last time out, Michigan State hosted the Auto Owners Spartan Invitational at the Forest Akers East Golf Course. In their lone home event, both the men's and women's team took a first-place finish. Senior Sherod Hardt crossed the finish line first for the men, closely followed up by sophomore Ryan Robinson and freshman Jesse Hersha.
The women swept the placing positions one through five at the Spartan Invitational and were led by senior Rachele Schulist, who took second place overall for women. Senior Alexis Wiersma and sophomore Erin McDonald crossed the line almost side-by-side to mark a fourth and fifth place finish.
"We want to focus on us and get better this meet, as individuals and a team. We have to learn from the things that we did in the last meet, and we want to adjust those. This meet is an opportunity for growth, it is a great test, and it is an overall great cross country experience."
For complete results of the Roy Griak Invitational, visit www.MSUSpartans.com following the conclusion of the meet.
"Our job is to just see how well we can run and to come away from it seeing how we can become better," said Drenth. "There will be some natural things at the meet, we will see how we stack up with these other schools. We will see whether or not we have a chance to be in the top mix. I believe it will give us some confidence coming off of it, but as much as anything the competition we will face will be great for us."
Players Mentioned
