Pick Ten: Roy Griak Invitational

The big news coming out of the University of Minnesota Cross Country teams is that long-time women's coach Gary Wilson will "retire" on June 30, 2013.  Perhaps some day there will be a huge invitational meet named in his honor.  After this season, Wilson will transition into of his "retirement" by taking over as executive director of the the Roy Griak Invitational, named for the legendary Gophers coach.  This year's  meet will be run on Saturday at Les Bolstad Golf Course with separate races for Division I, II and III men and women, followed by high school events.

With all these races, we feel obligated to bring out the traditional Griak Pick Ten contest this week.

Pick Ten has a simple concept: predict the finish place for each of 10 Minnesota athletes at this weekends competitions. You will score points for each athlete who scores at or above the finish place you predict for them, following the 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 scoring system.

For example: If you pick Pieter Gagnon to place first in the Merrill Fischbein Gold race, and he places first, you get 10 points. If you pick Gagnon to place first and he finishes second, you get zero points. If you pick Gagnon to finish third in the race and he places first, second or third, you get 8 points by the scoring system above, since he placed at least as high as you predicted.

To play Pick Ten, cut and paste the list of names/events below into an e-mail and add your place predictions -- 1st or 2nd or 3rd...8th. Send your predictions by 9:00 A.M. CST on Saturday, September 29th to DtBFantasy [AT] gmail [DOT] com. Make sure your full name is in the e-mail. As with our Yes/No contests, we don't offer any prizes, so no one needs to fear running afoul of NCAA or other anti-gambling regulations.

We'll announce the winner of this week's contest and compile results of all of the year's Pick Ten contests to name a grand champion for 2012.

Pick 10 ... Roy Griak Invitational Meet:

Pieter Gagnon - University of Minnesota:
University of Minnesota Men:
Laura Docherty - University of Minnesota:
University of Minnesota Women:
Garrett Eklof - Minnesota State, Mankato:
Minnesota State, Mankato, Men:
Kaelyn Williams - University of Minnesota, Duluth:
Marcus Huderle - Carleton:
Linda Keller - University of Minnesota, Morris:
St. Thomas, Women:

Here is some information to help you with your picks:

• Results from all the 2011 Roy Griak Races
• 2012 St. Olaf invitational (Men/Women)  that included many of the athletes/teams listed above
• Current 2012 National and Regional team rankings
• Information and press releases on the meet posted by the host school

Good luck!

Last week's question was Will Gabriele Anderson and Heather Kampf finish in the top 6 at the NYRR Fifth Avenue Mile on Sautrday?  The correct answer was yes.  Anderson finished fourth and Kampf was sixth.  Nineteen players answered correctly this week and Mike Mason remains in first.  Heather Jelen and Ryan Aylesworth are one point behind in second place.

Bill Atkins continues to lead Pick Ten with 130 points while Mitch VanBruggen is second with 126 points.

For full standings of both contests, please visit DtB Fantasy Corner.