FALCON HEIGHTS, MINNESOTA – The University of the Incarnate Word men's and women's cross country teams traveled to the University of Minnesota Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday.  The men finished in 26^th place while the women finished in 23^rd place.  (Men's Results, Women's Results)

The Merrill Fischbein Men's Gold Competition started at 12:20 p.m. and covered eight kilometers at Les Bolstad Golf Course.  Senior Mario Mora (Converse/Wagner HS) was the top finisher for the Cardinals crossing the finish line in 114^th place.  Freshman Garett Cortez (Schertz/Steele HS) was eight seconds behind Mora. 

The men's race was won by Jefferson Abbey of Colorado State in a time of 24:51 and his teammate, Jerrell Mock, was second in 24:55.6.  Michigan State won the men's team title with 74 points.  Southern Utah was second with 88 points and California was third with 94 points.  Overall, there were 202 men who finished the race.

The Jack Johnson Women's Gold Competition started at hour after the men's race and was over a distance of six kilometers.  Senior Rainy Castaneda (Laredo/United South HS) was the top finisher on the team for the third straight week.  She finished in 95^th place after crossing the line in 23:33.  Kathleen Hoffman (San Antonio/San Antonio Christian HS) ran a strong race for the team moving up to #2 on the squad with a time of 24:07.

Boise State dominated the women's race accumulating only 37 points as they took second, third, sixth and tenth.  California's Bethan Knights won individual medalist honors with a time of 20:54, 16 seconds ahead of Boise State's Allie Ostrander.  Michigan State took second place with 116 points and Minnesota was third with 141 points.
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