NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The Michigan Tech men's cross country team finished fifth while the women were seventh at the St. Olaf Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 20). For the second week in a row, Sean Pengelly and Deedra Irwin paced the Huskies.
"Everyone competed hard today," Tech coach Joe Haggenmiller said. "We were a little off today, but we have a weekend to pick up the slack and keep improving."
Pengelly finished fifth in 25:24.5. Jason Saliga (40th/27:11.4), Calvin Nitz (42nd/27:14.9) and Daniel Kulas (43rd/27:15.9) were also in the top 50. Daniel Byrne (51st/27:38.8) rounded out the scoring for the Huskies.
Chad Pollock, Jani Lane and Corey Zeutzius also placed in the top 100.
"Sean had an ok day today," Haggenmiller said. "He went out a bit too fast but battled through it to finish fifth.
"I thought Dan Kulas was a guy that exceeded expectations today and had a great race."
Sioux Falls (49), UW-Eau Claire (56), St. Olaf (61), and Carleton (149) finished ahead of the Black and Gold (181).
On the women's side, Irwin finished third in 22:20.5. She was less than 45 seconds off race winner Samantha Rivard of Minnesota Duluth.
"Deedra had a back and forth race," added Haggenmiller. "She fell back off the lead pack but battled all the way to third."
Freshmen Emily Vigil (51st/24:40.5), Elise Dombkowski (52nd/24:44.2) and Liz Bloch (58th/24:52.6) were next across the line for Tech. Sonja Hedblom (59th/24:53.5) rounded out scoring for the Huskies.
"Our freshmen women had a really good race, especially Emily Vigil," said Haggenmiller.
Ulrika Axelsson and Carolyn Lucca also finished in the top 100.
UMD won the women's meet with 35 points. Carleton (51), St. Olaf (86), UW-Eau Claire (137), Minnesota State (181) and Gustavus Adolphus (195), finished ahead of Tech (223).
The Huskies have next weekend off before travelling to Wisconsin on Oct. 3 to participate in the Blugold Invitational at UW-Eau Claire.
