Kylie Bridenhagen/Winonan

The men’s cross country team started off their weekend at the SMU No Limit Invitational at St. Mary’s University in Winona. While the top seven runners did not run here, the Warriors still placed in the top ten at the meet.

Jared Haldeman was the top finisher for the Warriors, coming in with a time of 29:29.5. He placed 37th overall.

Joe Carlson was second in for Winona with 30:11.8 and 45th overall.

With a time of 30:24.4 and crossing the finish line in 49th place overall, was Pat Dimpsey.

Finishing in fourth for the Warriors was Dylan O’Connell, whose time was 30:25.6. He placed 50th overall.

Rounding out the lineup for the day was Lucas Kopnick, who was 52nd overall, with 30:31.9.

The top three runners from this meet were from the host school, St. Mary’s University.  Their team’s combined score was 37 points.

Jake Traxler was third best overall, with a time of 27:08.8. Finishing second was Peter Borash with 27:00.4. The top individual runner of the meet was Aaron Haley, who won with a time of 26:52.3.

Winona’s top five runners had a combined team score of 233 points, which was good for seventh place.
UW-Eau Claire edged out UW-La Crosse by just one point. The Bluegolds finished in second with 44 points, while the Eagles were third with a combined team score of 45 points.

The following day, the rest of the Warrior men’s cross country team competed at one of the biggest meets of their season so far—the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Winona competed against 36 other schools, with a field of over 400 runners.
Billy Eifert, “who would like the Warriors to finish top 5 at conference and place well at Regionals,” was the top finisher for Winona that Saturday morning. He ran a 26:48 and finished 41st overall.

David Lund was the second Winona runner to cross the finish line. His time of 27:43 placed him 113th overall.

Nick Couillard was 132nd with 28:02.

Coming in 145th place was Shane Carlson with 28:13.

The last of the Warriors was Billy Schimmel, who finished in 28:28 in 160th place.

Emilio Trajilo, of Colorado Springs, was the overall individual winner of the invitational. He ran in a time of 25:22.
Phillip Miller, of Southwest Baptist, was second with 25:34. The third place finisher was Dylan Brown, of Lakehead University, with 25:38.

The Warriors finished 25th as a team, with a combined team score of 591 points.

The third best team of the meet was Southwest Baptist, with 159 points. In second, was Minnesota State Mankato, with 119 points. Colorado Springs won this year’s invitational with a combined team score of 93 points.

Friday afternoon, the women’s cross-country team also ran at the SMU No Limit Invitational. Again, the top runners did not run at this meet, but did race the following day.

Winona State finished in 5th place with 148 points.

Kelsey Schaefer was the top finisher for the team with a time of 25:21.4, and a 16th place finish overall.

Sydney McCarthy was 18th overall, with 25:31.7. In 33rd place was Amy Holovnia with 26:09.2. The fourth Warrior runner to cross the finish line was Lauren Rusch, with a time of 26:32.3. She was 38th overall. Rachel Ziebell was the fifth runner.

She completed the race in 27:00.6, good for 43 place.

The host school, St. Mary’s University, was the third place team with 70 points.

Two Wisconsin schools finished one-two. UW-La Crosse was second with 41 points, and UW-Eau Claire edged them out and won the invitational by just one point. Their combined team score was 40 points.

The individual winner of the meet was Hannah Heidvogel, of UW-Lacrosse, with 24:12.1. Katie Stolz, from St. Mary’s was second with 24.12.2. Taking home the third place title was Clara Williamson, of UW-Eau Claire, with a time of 24:34.9.

The rest of the Warriors competed at the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday.

Kayla Gundmudson, who hopes that, “we will be at the top performance level by the end of the season.”

The Warriors had an excellent finish at this meet. They finished in second place with 134 points, running ahead of seven nationally ranked teams.

Wayne State finished in third, with 172 points, while Colorado Springs was the winner of the meet with 119 points.

Jessica Young was the top Warrior finisher. She place 6th overall with a time of 22:32.4.
Gundmundson was second to finish for Winona with 23:18.5, and 19th place overall. In 20th place, was Jordan Skelly with 23:19.2.

Finishing the race in 23:49.4, was Chelsea Schrubbe, in 39th place.

The fifth runner was Megan Snyder who finished in 50th with 24:01.8.

This was also a highly competitive meet, with more than a 400-field race.

The top finisher of the day was Dani Stacx, running unattached, with 21:45.5. Melissa Agneu was second, with 22:03.8, running for St. Mary’s University. The third place runner was Karissa Lepage, of Regina, with 22:13.2.

Look for both cross-country teams to be back in action October 13th, in West Salem, Wisconsin.

The men’s team will be running at the Jim Drews Invitational, while the women’s team will be running at the Tori Neubauer Invitational.

Contact Kylie at [email protected].