HOUGHTON, Mich. — The Michigan Tech cross country squads saw top finishes at the Husky Invitational hosted at the Tech Trails as senior Austin Smelker claimed the men's 8k victory while sophomore Grace Folkema won the women's 6k race on Friday afternoon.

"We decided to host this meet this year because we needed a meet here and there wasn't a good option to go to so we decided to host it," said Tech head coach Robert Young. "I was really happy with the competitive opportunity that the team brought today. I was really happy with the level of performance and we saw some big breakthroughs and I'm proud of Austin for the race that he ran–he stepped up and earned his way into a GLIAC spot. It was cool to see Grace run a really smart and well-run race and I think she probably had the best last 1,000m of anyone in the race."

Smelker paced the 8k course of the Tech Trials with a convincing win, clocking 26:35.5, nearly 20 seconds ahead of the second-place finish, assistant coach Luke Moore. Hancock, Michigan, native Nik Thomas (27:17.5) and freshman Dominic Lowrie (27:21.6) had top-five finishes, placing fourth and fifth, respectively.

Luke Morrision (27:53.8), Aiden Shulfer (27:56.4), Brady Hager (28:20.8) and Brayden Sobecki (28:28.3) took seventh through 10th-place in a field of 35 runners.

First-year Caden Karcher made his Michigan Tech debut with a time of 29:07.5 for 17th place.

Folkema highlighted the women's 6k with a new personal-best of 24:47.9 en route to a victory on her home course, bettering the second-place finisher by over eight seconds.

All five Huskies in uniform finished among the top-15, with Sam Shaver taking third-place in 25:10. Julia Moxey finished 10 seconds ahead of the 10th-place finisher in a time of 26:10.9, with Amyla Eberhart cracking 27 minutes with her time of 26:54.9, earning her 11th-place in a field of 34 runners.

Sophomore Linnea Gray claimed 15th place in a new personal-best time of 27:29.6.

Up Next

The Huskies now shift to the postseason, traveling to Caledonia, Michigan, for the GLIAC Championships hosted by Davenport on Saturday, Oct. 25.