The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee men’s and women’s cross country teams both finished close to last on Sept. 24 at the Griak Invitational in Minneapolis, Minn.

The event, hosted by the University of Minnesota, boasted 27 teams in the men’s race, and 30 in the women’s race. The men’s team took 23rd place, while the women took 30th out of 31 teams.

The men’s squad placed three runners in the top 100 out of the 225-runner field. The top two finishers in the men’s race were senior Josh Nygren, whose time of 25 minutes, 36 seconds gave him a 74th-place finish, and senior Nate Weiland, who took 93rd place with a time of 25:53.

Rounding out the three was junior Ben Uphoff, who placed 97th with a time of 25:57.

Also scoring points for the men were sophomore Nick Hawley and junior Justin Gorman. Hawley finished 137th with a time of 26:35 and Gorman finished 162nd with a time of 27:21.

The Brigham Young University men won with a total time of 2:03:55. The individual winner was Simon Bairu of the University of Wisconsin.

In the women’s race, UWM did not have an individual in the top 100, but sophomore Angie Huebner threatened to break through with a time of 23:04, which netted her 102nd place. Sophomore Holly Nearman took 140th place with a time of 23:36.

With these results, UWM received 30th place out of the 31-team field that included a total of 287 runners.

Arizona State University took home both the individual and team titles. Arizona State senior Amy Hastings placed first with a time of 20:58. Her teammate, senior Anna Masinelli, finished close behind her in fifth, recording a time of 21:06.

Both Panthers squads will be in the Loyola Lakefront Invitational, beginning in Chicago at 11 a.m. on Saturday, Oct. 1.

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