Saturday, September 24, 2011
FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. - Sophomore Brogan Austin (Boone, Iowa) finished in 57th-place in a field of 220 runners to lead the Drake men's cross country team at the Roy Griak Invitational Men's Gold Division cross country meet at the Les Bolstad Golf Course Saturday.
Austin, who competed as a freshman at the 2011 NCAA Outdoor Track And Field Regional in the 10,000-meters, ran the 8,000-meter course in 25:07.1. Austin was able to shave almost a minute off of his time from a year ago at the Roy Griak Invitational.
As a team, the Bulldogs earned a 22nd-place showing going up against a field featuring three teams ranked in the United States Track and Field and Cross Country Coaches Association National Poll.
Sophomore Omet Kak (Des Moines, Iowa) was 97th crossing the line in 25.37.5. The senior tandem of Colin Hagan (Wichita, Kan.) and Ben Jaskowiak (Madison, Wis.) were the next two runners to finish for Drake with times of 26:04.7 and 26:23.2 to earn 135th and 156th, respectively.
Junior Charlie Lapham (Golden Valley, Minn.) clocked in at 26.29.1. Freshmen Conor Wells (Des Moines, Iowa) and Tyler Nelson (Lonewood, Colo.), in their first collegiate 8,000-meter race, had times of 26.34.8 and 26.40.7, respectively.
North Carolina State won the team title with five runners finishing in the top-35. Arizona freshman Lawi Lalang, brother of 2010 Grand Blue Mile champion Boaz Lalang, won the individual title crossing the line in 23:15.5, 29 seconds faster than Ryan Hill of North Carolina State who finished in second-place.
"While they didn't get the team finish we were hoping for, there were some great effots today against some of the nations' best runners," commented head coach Dan Hostager. "This experience will pay off later in the season."
The Bulldogs wrap up the month of September having a partial squad compete close to home on Sept. 30 at the Grand View Invitational at Ewing Park in Des Moines.
