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First Thoughts: Minnesota Upsets Nokes-Less Utah Valley, Wyoming Men Fend Off Navy at Roy Griak Invitational
- Admin (Garrett Zatlin)
- Sep 21, 2024
- 9 min read
Rejoice! Cross country has returned and the first few meets that we would deem to be "nationally competitive" (albeit, to varying extents) have now wrapped up.
Today, we'll be reviewing the results that we saw at the Griak Invitational, specifically the "Gold" races. And if we have time later this week, then we'll also make an effort to review the "Maroon" races as well.
Alright, let's jump into some analysis of the top teams from Friday's early-season clash in Minnesota...
Men's Gold Race
1. Wyoming Cowboys (63 points)
Going into Friday's race, we mentioned how the Wyoming men could be favored to secure the win at the Roy Griak Invitational. And sure enough, that was exactly what happened.
With a formidable top-three scoring presence and a good enough backend, the Cowboys were simply the more complete and potent team compared to their opponents. Mason Norman (5th), Ryker Holtzen (7th) and Jacob White (8th) made our predictions look very good as each man cracked the top-10, giving Wyoming tons of great firepower.
Asefa Wetzel (19th) did enough to get by and the same could be said about Gus McIntyre (24th). Those were respectable efforts, although in a stronger and more competitive field, those backend gaps would have been capitalized on by more established teams.
Even so, Wyoming should be applauded for their win. Navy put up a very strong fight, but our "Honorable Mention" squad was simply better. They'll venture to the Joe Piane Invite next where they'll have a shot to collect a couple of Kolas points and potentially improve their standing enough to sneak into the top section at Pre-Nationals later this season.
2. Navy Midshipmen (71 points)
They may have fallen to Wyoming, but the Midshipmen have a lot to be proud of. The Cowboys are much better than some people realize and Navy was able to put together a scoring structure that wasn't all that different from the winners.
Murphy Smith (4th) delivered a strong low-stick result as expected while Jackson Nguyen (10th) was on the better end of expectations. Those pair of results, however, were not too surprising -- we knew Navy had a great 1-2 punch.
Instead, what we really admired was seeing Luke Nester (15th) and Justin Mumford (16th) offer excellent scoring stability. Sure, Wyoming was still the better team through four runners, but it was only by six points. Meanwhile, freshman Patrick Gandini (26th) wasn't too far off from Wyoming's fifth man (24th). As a younger distance talent, he'll have room to improve going forward.
Make no mistake, Navy still has a good bit of work to do if they want to have any chance of qualifying for this year's national meet. In our eyes, they are still significant underdogs. And yet, we can at least see a core of promising distance talents that we're not sure the Midshipmen had going into the fall months.
3. Minnesota Golden Gophers (105 points)
Major kudos to the Minnesota men! I thought the Golden Gophers placing 3rd in this field, while realistic, was going to be a fairly big stretch. But as it turns out, bronze was a more-than-reasonable ask.
Emmet Anderson (11th) showed a few brief moments of promise over the last year, but his Friday effort was certainly one of his better performances. Behind him, the quartet of Shane Greipentrog (17th), Aidan Jones (22nd), Lucas Florsheim (25th) and Tanner Klumph (31st) were truthfully far from flashy, although they didn't necessarily need to be.
While the up-front firepower and scoring potency of this squad has room for improvement, there weren't any major gaps in the Golden Gophers' top-five. They were a balanced group without any glaring flaws. And for a race that took place in the middle of September, that's an encouraging way to start your fall campaign.
4. Colorado State Rams (115 points)
I gotta admit, I thought the Colorado State men would be better than what they showed us on Friday.
Sure, Lars Mitchell (2nd) was better than expected, especially for a team that needed greater firepower. However, I did think that Cory Kennedy (23rd), a star-caliber transfer from the Division Three level, would be more impactful than he was.
Michael Mooney (14th) had a fine outing, but after Trent Nosky (29th) crossed the line, we didn't see another CSU runner appear until a trio of Rams went 48-49-50, respectively.
I still believe in the collective talent of this team, but it's becoming increasingly more challenging to pick them as contenders in these kinds of races. Last fall wasn't great for the Rams and the start of their 2024 campaign hasn't been ideal, either.
5. Ohio State Buckeyes (123 points)
Relative to expectations, this was a great run for the Ohio State men.
Zubin Jha (13th) delivered a very solid lead scoring effort while Weston Day (18th) and Kevin Agnew (21st) came together to give the Buckeyes a quietly-solid top-three. Sure, they didn't offer the same kind of scoring potency that we saw from Wyoming, Navy or Colorado State, but it did feel like this group took a positive step in the right direction.
Admittedly, their final two scorers faded to 35th place and 38th place which ultimately limited how far this team could go. Even so, for a team that wasn't expected to make much noise on Friday, seeing them crack the top-five was a nice development.
Quick Hits:
6. Utah Valley Wolverines (158 points)
Mohamed Guled securing the overall win was a very pleasant surprise and a huge injection of scoring for Utah Valley. However, with no one else cracking the top-25, it was hard for Utah Valley to place much better than 6th in this field.
7. Youngstown State Penguins (162 points)
Hunter Christopher (3rd) was excellent as expected and he continues to be a fairly underrated low-stick. For the most part, the rest of this team didn't run too poorly as the next four scorers placed anywhere from 32nd to 51st. Of course, if the Penguins were going to stand out, then they needed more scoring potency behind Christopher.
8. South Dakota State Jackrabbits (191 points)
Great run from Carson Noecker (9th) even if I thought he had a chance at the win. Josh Becker (20th) also deserves a nod of respect. However, the gaps behind SDSU's top-two were fairly large and that's ultimately why they faded to 8th.
Individuals
I will fully admit that I likely overlooked UVU's Mohamed Guled when making our pre-race predictions. Seeing him place 6th at Paul Short last fall demands respect and it shouldn't have come as a surprise that he also found success on Friday. Taking down guys like Lars Mitchell (Colorado State), Murphy Smith (Navy) and Carson Noecker (South Dakota Smith) as easily as he did was impressive.
Women's Gold Race
1. Minnesota Golden Gophers (47 points)
I will fully admit that I was not very high on this Minnesota team going into this fall.
While I had admired the Golden Gophers for their multiple top-10 national meet finishes from a few years ago (when they were led by the Hasz sisters), I was truthfully becoming impatient as I waited for the Minnesota women to be a nationally competitive team yet again. But after Friday, it no longer feels like we need to wait -- the Golden Gophers have seemingly been revived as a national-caliber team once more.
I liked the talent that both Ali Weimer (1st) and Emma Atkinson (2nd) seemingly held, especially the former. But if you had told me before Friday that those two women would go 1-2 in this field, then I simply wouldn't have believed you. Seeing Minnesota emerge with a lethal scoring duo was massive.
Veteran Brianne Brewster (11th) came through in a big way for one of her better races while Erin Reidy (14th) was great as well, even if I thought that she could have been a top-10 finisher. With sophomore Izzy Roemer (19th) closing out the scoring, Minnesota fended off a nationally ranked Utah Valley squad by just six points.
However, maybe the craziest part in all of this is that Minnesota's 9:54 steeplechaser and outdoor national meet qualifier, sophomore Zoie Dundon, didn't even score for this team! The rising Minnesota talent faded to 33rd place, although she is almost certainly capable of being far more effective later this fall.
If Dundon delivers on the potential that we think she has, then you're suddenly looking at a Minnesota team that could be nationally ranked.
Sure, the Golden Gophers are far from perfect. While they did secure the overall team win, they did so against a Utah Valley team that was missing their top scorer (Morgan Nokes). And if the Wolverines had Nokes, then they almost certainly would have secured gold and forced Minnesota into a runner-up spot.
Even so, Coach Sarah Hopkins deserves plenty of respect for the (admittedly long, but effective) rebuild that this program has seemingly gone through. If Minnesota can build on this momentum moving forward, then they could be greater threats to Wisconsin and/or Michigan State (although maybe not their newest conference rivals like Oregon and Washington) than we realize.
2. Utah Valley Wolverines (53 points)
There is good news and bad news when it comes to the Utah Valley women...let's start with the latter.
The bad news is that the UVU women did not have their top scorer, Morgan Nokes, for Friday's battle at the Roy Griak Invitational. What's more, they lost to a Minnesota team that they probably should have defeated even without Nokes.
The Wolverines are, after all, a top-25 team in our rankings.
The good news, however, is that Utah Valley put four scorers -- Caila Odekirk (6th), Oakley Olson (9th), Anna Martin (10th) and Allie Warner (12th) -- in the top-12 with Julie Sumsion (16th) closing out the scoring. Their overall depth was definitively better than what the Golden Gophers had and if Nokes had run, then Utah Valley would have likely secured the win.
Odekirk looks great after showing tons of promise in the spring while Olson and Martin look as reliable as ever. Warner has also proven to be a great addition from BYU. It seems pretty clear that Ari Trimble (20th), the team's projected secondary scorer, had an "off" day. If she was firing on all cylinders, then there's a good chance that UVU secures gold.
If you're Utah Valley, then there's no reason to be hitting the panic button, especially with Minnesota likely being better than we thought they would and Trimble capable of having stronger performances in the future. The absence of Nokes, however, is hardly ideal and based on a few rumors, it's very possible that she won't be back this fall (although that is not yet confirmed).
3. Wyoming Cowgirls (79 points)
Really nice race by the Wyoming women. I'm not necessarily stunned that they placed 3rd, but they kept things a bit closer with the top-two teams than I thought they would.
Kylie Simshauser (3rd) had what was arguably the best cross country race of her career in what felt like a minor breakout performance. Abigail Whitman (8th), meanwhile, delivered on expectations to give the Cowgirls a sneaky-good 1-2 punch.
Yes, there was a fairly sizable gap between Wyoming's top-two and the rest of their scorers, but their backend trio of Eowyn Dalbec (22nd), Madelyn Blazo (23rd) and Hailey Uhre (25th) did a quietly great job of stabilizing this lineup. There were essentially no major gaps at the backend of this group and that's largely why the Cowgirls were able to find success on Friday.
4. Colorado State Rams (99 points)
You have to commend the efforts of Anna Petr (5th) and Quinn McConnell (7th), two women who gave the Rams a great 1-2 punch on Friday. That firepower was definitely needed for a team that lost last year's star low-stick, Sarah Carter, to expired eligibility.
The challenge, however, is that the scoring reinforcements behind Petr and McConnell weren't nearly as strong on Friday as we had hoped they would be. Kensey May (20th) had a fine outing, but with the team's final two scorers placing 28th and 40th, there just wasn't nearly enough scoring potency for Colorado State to be all that competitive with the top teams in this field.
There is still enough of a core for the Rams to be somewhat competitive moving forward. Even so, the gaps that were shown throughout the latter-half of their scoring contingent on Friday will need to be addressed (and fixed) fairly quickly.
5. Ohio Bobcats (162 points)
Nice outing for the Ohio women. They were very clearly in a tier below the top-four teams in the final standings (just look at the point totals), but there were numerous programs that I would have picked for the 5th place spot before the Bobcats.
Leila Boussedra (13th) had a really nice outing while Kelsi Harris (18th) gave her team a quietly-great 1-2 punch. With Allie Martin (26th) also holding her own, Ohio was able to come out with a 5th place result despite their final two scorers placing 39th and 74th.
Quick Hits:
6. Montana State Bobcats (204 points)
Lindsey Paulson (15th) had a sneaky-good outing for Montana State and we think both Kyla Christopher-Moody (30th) and Grace Gilbreth (42nd) can be better moving forward. The ceiling of this team probably wouldn't have surpassed 5th place, but they're likely better than what they showed on Friday.
7. Ohio State Buckeyes (218 points)
It may be best to just scrap this result and move on if you're Ohio State. Superstar low-stick Addie Engel did not race nor did teammate and fellow fringe low-stick, Andrea Kuhn. Aniya Mosley, a 4:12 (1500) runner, also did not race and Daniella Santos simply had a rough outing. Akemi Von Scherr (17th) did have a fairly nice race which is good news if this team is healthy and firing on all cylinders. Even so, Friday wasn't exactly encouraging if you're a fan of the Buckeyes.
8. Navy Midshipmen (259 points)
They put four women in the top-60, but had no one crack the top-35. There truthfully isn't a whole lot to analyze with this team, but it will be interesting to see how they stack up in the Patriot League later this fall.
Individuals
We already touched on the Minnesota duo of Ali Weimer and Emma Atkinson, but their 1-2 finish bares repeating. Remember, Weimer was once a national-caliber name in the high school ranks. It has seemingly taken her some time to reach a nationally competitive level as a collegian, but her pedigree makes it hard to ignore how strong of a result this is. Also, nice run by North Dakota State's Reagan Baesler who took 4th place. That was probably one of the better races of her career.
