FALCON HEIGHTS, MINN. - Junior Jeff Grassmeyer (Fremont, Neb.) captured the 6,000-meter individual title, while also leading the Drake men's cross country team to the team title in the Oz Memorial Run Saturday morning at the Les Bolstad Cross Country Course.

Drake scored 20 points, while South Dakota State had 48 and North Dakota State 60.

The Oz Memorial is named after Gary Osborn, the longtime Drake women's track and field and cross country coach who died in 2000. Members of the Osborn family were in attendance Saturday.

Grassmeyer grabbed the lead for good at the 1,000-meter mark and posted a winning time of 19 minutes 18 seconds. Thirty-nine runners competed in the meet.

Grassmeyer won the 3,000 in the 2007 Missouri Valley Conference Indoor Championship and the 5,000 in the 2007 MVC Outdoor Championship.

"It was a good opener for us," said Drake cross country coach Dan Hostager. "I was happy with our fitness level and we're looking forward to racing again in two weeks (Missouri State Invitational Sept. 22)."

Drake senior Barry Hill (Caddo Mills, Texas) was third in 19:52, while junior Evan Jurkovich (Edina, Minn.) was fourth, 20:02, and junior Leyden Tolhurst (Auckland, New Zealand) fifth, 20:05.

Drake junior Andrew Shortslef (Janesville, Wis.) was clocked in 20:18 en route to an eighth-place finish.

Drake had five freshmen compete in the meet with Mike Bumgarner (Rosemount, Minn.) the top finisher among the yearlings, placing 13th in 20:28.

Junior Cole Feldman (Carroll, Iowa/Keumper) was 18th in 20:49 and freshman Adam Oestreich (Bettendorf) was 19th in 20:56.

"The freshmen stepped up in their first collegiate race," Hostager added.

Memorial Oz Invitational

1. Drake 20; 2. South Dakota 48; 3. North Dakota State 60.
1 1 Jeffry Grassmeyer, Jr 19:18.2 Drake University
2 2 Andrew VanNurden, Sr 19:28.6 South Dakota State
3 3 Barry Hill, Sr 19:52.1 Drake University
4 4 Evan Jurkovich, Jr 20:02.1 Drake University
5 5 Leyden Tolhurst, Jr 20:05.8 Drake University
6 6 Joe Roby, Jr 20:14.0 South Dakota State
7 Dana Schmidt 20:17.2
8 7 Andrew Shortslef, Jr 20:18.4 Drake University
9 8 Ross Schilling, Jr 20:22.6 North Dakota State
10 9 Eric Stroh, Fr 20:24.9 North Dakota State
11 10 Thomas Schanandore, Fr 20:31.9 North Dakota State
12 11 Jared Bienlien, Jr 20:34.6 South Dakota State
13 12 Mike Bumgarner, Fr 20:38.2 Drake University
14 Nick Saucedo 20:39.3
15 13 Greg Vollmer, Fr 20:42.5 South Dakota State
16 14 Cory Olson, Sr 20:45.6 North Dakota State
17 Abdi Awale 20:49.1
18 15 Cole Feldman, Jr 20:49.7 Drake University
19 Adam Oestreich, Fr 20:56.1 Drake University
20 Mike Howard 20:56.5
21 16 Justin Peters, Fr 20:57.9 South Dakota State
22 Evan Wood, So 21:08.1 Drake University
23 Mustafa Yusuf 21:12.3
24 17 Jake Schneller, Fr 21:15.6 South Dakota State
25 18 Todd Vlieger, Jr 21:19.8 South Dakota State
26 Brandon Lewis, Fr 21:21.8 Drake University
27 19 Thomas Wagner, So 21:27.3 North Dakota State
28 Kaafi Adeys 21:30.6
29 Cory Denzer 21:31.1
30 Adam Noll 21:39.1
31 Luke Schafer, Fr 21:53.2 Drake University
32 20 Kirk Bottleberghe, So 22:00.0 North Dakota State
33 Sam Lance 22:03.6
34 Matt Heiser, Sr 22:06.1 South Dakota State
35 Colin Coomer, Fr 22:10.9 Drake University
36 Nick Ramberg 22:12.9
37 Todd Reed 23:11.2
38 Chip Sandahl 23:39.9
39 Nick Jannick 25:22.7