Wednesday, September 21, 2011

What's Ahead: The Drake men's cross country team, after winning the Oz Memorial earlier this month, will return to the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn. to compete at the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday (Sept. 24). The race, which will be the first 8,000-meter race of the year for the Bulldogs, will begin at 12:20 p.m.

Last Time Out Powered by three top-10 finishes, Drake successfully defend its Oz Memorial team title at the Les Bolstad Golf Course on Friday (Sept. 9). 

The Bulldogs had a team score of 37 points to win the meet title, named in memory of former Drake cross country coach Gary Osborn.

Leading the Bulldog charge was sophomore Brogan Austin (Boone, Iowa) who netted a fourth-place finish running the 6,000-meter course in 19:30.13. 

Sophomore Omet Kak (Des Moines, Iowa) was seventh crossing the line in 19:37.44, while senior Colin Hagan (Wichita, Kan.) had a time of 19:41.60 to place 10th.

Senior Ben Jaskowiak (Madison, Wis.) and freshman Conor Wells (Des Moines, Iowa) were clocked in 19:51.11 and 19:53.19 to finish 15th and 16th, respectively.

A Year Ago: Omet Kak finished 69th overall out of 213 runners to help lead Drake to 17th in the Roy Griak Invitational Men's Gold Division race on Sept. 25, 2010 at the Les Bolstad Golf Course.

Kak covered the 8,000-meter course in 25 minutes 45 seconds.


Two-hundred thirteen runners, representing more than 22 schools from across the country, helped comprise the strongest cross country field a young Drake team faced last year.

Brogan Austin was 80th in 26:00, Ben Jaskowiak was 103rd in 26:19 and Doug Brady (Engelwood, Colo.) was 117th in 26:48.

The 21st-ranked Duke Blue Devils placed five runners among the top 25 to win the Men's Gold (Division I) race. It was the first Griak title for Duke, in just its second appearance, after finishing third in 2009.

Drake Ranked Ninth In USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Rankings: After its team victory at the Oz Memorial two weeks ago, Drake climbed into the top-10 of the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association Midwest Region poll with its ninth-place ranking.

The Bulldogs moved up three spots from the preseason tabulations when they were rated 12th. The ranking is the first time they have been in the top-10 since the 2008 campaign.

Up Next: The Bulldogs will have a partial squad compete close to home on Sept. 30 at the Grand View Invitational at Ewing Park in Des Moines.