Gophers Meet the Competition at Pre-Nats

The Golden Gopher cross country squads met the competition on Saturday.

At the annual Pre-National Invitational in Terre Haute, Indiana, hosted by NCAA Championships host Indiana State University, the #8-ranked Gopher women placed 6th in the "White" race, led by 3rd-place overall finisher Megan Duwell.

#1-ranked defending NCAA champions Washington won the White race with 59 points, the Gophers tallied 214.

The #30-ranked Gopher men finished 11th in the men's White race. Hassan Mead led the squad with a 5th place individual finish in the race. #1-ranked Stanford -- powered in part by Winona native Elliott Heath's 3rd place overall finish -- won the race with 47 points. The Gophers tallied 341.

The Gopher women needed to battle the frustrations of commercial air travel -- as well at the Pre-National competition -- at the event, arriving in Terre Haute around midnight the night before the race due to travel delays.

"I was pleased with the way our team was able to focus through adversity on this whole road trip," Gopher coach Gary Wilson said in a Gopher media release. "I think it’s going to one of those type of seasons where we are going to have to work very hard for everything we get."

"From a race standpoint," he added, "we got out a little too slow as a team. We continued to battle, but against this good of competition, any mistakes are magnified."

Behind Duwell, the Gophers were powered by Stephanie Prices' breakthrough 43rd place finish in 21:32.3, Elizabeth Yetzer who was 53rd in 21:40.2, Kayla Wagner 57th in 21:41.7, and Nikki Swenson, who placed 58th in 21:42.2.

The two-time defending Big Ten champion Gophers were edged 206 to 214 by Illinois in the race, foreshadowing a tight battle at the conference championships in two weeks. Big Ten rival Iowa and fellow Midwest Regional foe Iowa State ran well in the Blue race.

Team results for the Gopher women's race can be found HERE.

Individual results are HERE.

The Gopher men's coach Steve Plasencia was pleased but not elated with his team's results.

"We had a good, not great outing, today,” he said. “Our top four ran solid but we just need to move our fifth guy up. That gap between 90 and 162 is too big. It’s the difference. We have another runner up there in the mix and we would have a much better finish as a team."

Behind Mead, Ben Blankenship finished 24th in 24:11.2. Matt Barrett was 60th in 24:39.1, Pieter Gagnon placed 90th in 25:00.8, and Paul Hilsen finished 162nd in 25:51.3.

Team results for the Gopher men's race can be found HERE.

Individual results are HERE.

There's comprehensive coverage of the meet available HERE, thanks to Flotrack ... including video interviews with Hassan Mead, Elliott Heath, and Edina alum Alex Gits of Stanford.