No. 1 Grand Valley State, No. 2 Adams State, No. 3 Augustana (S.D.) at Griak Invitational
With a combined 30 ranked teams between all three NCAA Divisions in action, Minnesota’s Les Bolstad Golf Course is the place to be this weekend for the 28th Annual Roy Griak Invitational.
The Division II first-, second- and third-ranked teams will be included in the match-up.
This race is known for being a good preview for things to come in the cross country season.
| IDLE TEAMS |
|---|
| No. 5 Alaska-Anchorage |
| No. 8 Southern Indiana |
| No. 9 Metro State |
| No. 10 Colorado-Colorado Springs |
Third-ranked Augustana (S.D.). will have former National Athlete of the Week and returning All-American senior Runa Falch and fellow All-American senior Kristin Brondbo in the Griak Invitational. In its host-meet, Augustana won the Twilight meet on Sept. 6 for the third consecutive year.
In addition to the top-three racers, No. 15 Minnesota-Duluth, No. 20 Southwest Baptist and No. 22 Pittsburg State of Division II will be partaking in the race.
Grand Valley State, the top team in the nation, has taken two weeks off of competition since placing eight runners in the top-15 of the Spartan Invite.
Second-ranked Adams State posted a perfect score of 15 at the Joe I. Vigil Open on Sept. 7, and now the team is rested and ready to take on the top three in the division.
Also competing this weekend:
No. 4 Western State at Rocky Mountain Shootout
Fourth-ranked Western State will compete against some of the nation's best on Saturday at the Rocky Mountain Shootout, hosted by Colorado.
Western State heads into the Rocky Mountain Shootout after finishing third overall and first in Division II at the CSU Invite on Sept. 6.
No. 6 Simon Fraser and No. 7 Chico State at Stanford Invitational
The Stanford Invitational will take place in Palo Alto, Calif., on Saturday. It will be the 40th annual Stanford Invitational and will be held at the Stanford Golf Course.
Saturday will provide an opportunity for a head-to-head match-up — and a hint of redemption — between Simon Fraser, ranked No. 6 nationally, and seventh-ranked Chico State. Chico State fell from No. 3 to No. 7 in the rankings, and Simon Fraser was one of the schools that scooted in front of Chico.
Chico State returns three of its five scorers from its fifth-place team at the NCAA Championships in 2012, including All-American senior Sara Mikesell.
Simon Fraser, on the other hand, finds itself in unfamiliar territory. In just its third year at the Division II level, the Clan is sixth in the nation. To provide some context, SFU was sixth in the West Region alone a year ago. But impressive team performances, including a second-place showing against a number of Division I programs at the Erik Anderson Invitational this past weekend, and strong running from Lindsey Butterworth have the Clan in position to do some damage on the national stage.
