IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa men’s and women’s cross country teams travel to Minneapolis to compete at the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday. The 28th annual event is held at the Les Bolstad Golf Course on the campus of the University of Minnesota. The men’s 8,000-meter race begins at 12:20 p.m. (CT). The women’s 6,000-meter race begins at 1:10 p.m. (CT).
Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams are ranked in the latest USTFCCCA Regional rankings. The women’s team is ranked 15th in the Midwest Region, while the men moved up two spots to No. 9.
Freshman Kevin Docherty returns to the Twin Cities as a Roy Griak veteran. A native of Saint Paul, Minn., Docherty competed in the prep division at the Roy Griak in each of his four seasons as a student at St. Paul High School.
The Hawkeye women will face nine teams ranked inside the Top 30, including Minnesota, the top-ranked team in the Midwest Region, and Iowa State, ranked No. 26 in the nation. The Hawkeye men will race against four of the nation’s top 30 teams, including BYU (4), Syracuse (9), NC State (24), and Arizona State (29).
The men are sending five runners with previous Roy Griak experience. Kevin Lewis, Jon Michael Brandt and Ben Witt have each participated in the two previous Griak races. Sam Chaney and Anthony Gregorio each competed in the 2012 event. Brandt was Iowa’s top finisher a year ago (25:20, 20th).
The Hawkeye women see the Les Bolstad Course for the first time in their careers. None of the participants have previously raced at the Roy Griak Invitational.
The Roy Griak Invitational marks the first NCAA scoring event of the season. Iowa can gain points for NCAA at-large consideration with wins against potential NCAA automatic qualifiers.
In the first two events this season, Iowa has had six freshmen finish among its top 5 scorers. Kevin Docherty (1/5) and Samantha Zishka (5/14) scored in both the Hawkeye Early Bird and Black & Gold Invite. Ben Aderson (4) and Tess Wilberding (3) scored at the Hawkeye Early Bird, and Quentin Shaffer (7) and Katie Adams (15) at the Black and Gold Invite.
