Pick 10: The Griak Invitational

If you are reading Down the Backstretch, chances are you are either participating or watching one of two running events in the next two weekends. In perhaps the best two week period for distance runners and fans in Minnesota, the Roy Griak Invitational will be held on September 26th followed by the Twin Cities Marathon on October 4th.

The Griak Invitational begins at 9:00 a.m. Saturday at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in St. Paul and will feature 6 collegiate races and 4 high school races. With all the great racing this weekend, we decided to bring back the Pick 10 contest.

A refresher on Pick 10 rules: You're asked to predict the finish place for each of 10 Minnesota athletes/teams in their respective races at Griak. You will score points for each athlete/team that scores at or above the finish place you predict for them. One minor change to this contest, we will not use track and field scoring (10-8-6-5…) but will simply go 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 for each place.

Remember though, if the athlete/team finishes below your predicted place, you receive zero points.

To play Pick Ten, cut and paste the list of names below into an e-mail and add your place predictions -- 1st, 2nd, 3rd... or 10th. Send your predictions to DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com by 9:00 A.M. CDT on Saturday, September 26. Make sure your full name is in the e-mail. We'll announce the winner of this Pick Ten contest next week and update the running tally of Pick Ten scores from which we'll ultimately crown a grand champion.

Consult DtB Fantasy Corner for full results.

Pick 10 ... Roy Griak Invitational:

Megan Duwell (Gophers):
Hassan Mead (Gophers):
University of Minnesota Men:
University of Minnesota Women:
Morgan Place (UMD):
Ali Paul (MSU Mankato):
James Krajsa (MSU Mankato):
Doboul Ruon (St. Olaf):
Marie Borner (Bethel):
Dan Greeno (Bethel)

To Help You Make Your Picks ... Here is some information on the athletes/teams we've included in the competition:

Hassan Mead and Megan Duwell both finished 2nd at last year's Griak Invitational and are All-Americans. Mead is making his season debut while Duwell won the Oz Memorial Run earlier this year. The Gopher women are ranked #8 in the nation and are the two-time defending champs at Griak. They will be challenged by nationally ranked Michigan State and Iowa State. The Gopher men are ranked #17 while their biggest challenger, Iowa State, is ranked #25 in the nation.

Morgan Place is a defending Griak champ in her division and won at St.Olaf last week by 40 seconds. Ali Paul finished second to Place at St. Olaf. James Krajsa was 5th at Griak last year and also ran to an easy victory at St. Olaf.

Marie Borner is the defending D3 cross country champ and finished second at Griak last year. Doboul Ruon was a cross country All-American last year and finished second to Krajsa at St. Olaf. Dan Greeno is the defending Griak champ in his division and was an All-American last year.

Good luck!

Yes/No Update ... Last week’s question - Will Katie McGregor place in the top 5 at the USA 5k Championship on Sunday was answered "yes" correctly by 11 contestants. There was some confusion with the results as McGregor was actually 6th overall in the race. We asked about McGregor's finish in the USA 5k Championship and because one of the athletes in front of her was Irish, McGregor placed 5th in the USA Championship.

Yes/No will return next week. Full results are posted HERE