Men's cross country takes 20th at Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS – Running in its most competitive meet of the season, the Simpson men's cross country team finished 20th of 35 teams in the Maroon III Division of the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota's Les Bolstad Golf Course Saturday.

The 24th annual running of the Roy Griak Invitational featured five teams ranked in the top 35 of the USTFCCCA Division III Cross Country National Rankings.

Luke Weber led the pack for Simpson, finishing 71st in a time of 27:33.0, the first time Weber finished atop the Simpson lineup.

Simpson's No. 1 in the first two meets of the season, Ryan Edwardson ran a 27:54.2 in placing 87th in the 370-man field. Senior Casey Dunning placed 107th (28:10.2), freshman Mitchell Davis placed 145th (28:45.1), sophomore Matt Stone placed 156th (29:01.8), freshman John Warnke finished 186th (29:54.5) and sophomore Ben Duea placed 192nd (30:19.7), rounding out the Simpson finishers.

The Storm has a week off before taking to the course at the Wartburg Dan Huston Invitational Oct. 10 in Waverly. Waverly will also serve as the site for the 2009 Iowa Conference Championship.