The 19th ranked Minnesota women's cross country squad claimed 22 of the top 25 places to win the 2013 Oz Memorial Run at Les Bolstad Course Friday evening. Senior Laura Docherty (St. Paul, Minn.) paced the field in 21:48.0, winning her second-straight Oz Memorial title after claiming the 2012 crown in 21:31.4. Junior Molly Kayfes(Maple Grove, Minn.) followed close behind (21:54.7), and senior Maggie Bollig (Cross Plains, Wis.) rounded out the top three in 22:01.9. Becca Dyson (Roseville, Minn.), Liz Berkholtz (Sun Prairie, Wis.), Katie Moraczewski(White Bear Lake, Minn), and Kelli Budd (Omaha, Neb.) rounded out the top seven places to give the Gophers a perfect team score of 15.
"Overall, everybody ran within themselves but still ran solid. It's still a very controlled effort at this point," head coach Sarah Hopkins said. "Just like any day, there were some great races, there were some middle of the road races, and there are some people who I'm sure aren't thrilled with themselves, but the fight I saw from everybody was awesome."
Redshirt freshmen Taylor Mikkalson (Mantorville, Minn.) and Haley Johnson (Plymouth, Wis.) finished 14th and 15th, respectively, in their first attached race for the Gophers. Fellow redshirt freshman Melissa Cabak (Plymouth, Minn.) was close behind in 19th overall.
"Everybody really fought through to the end and worked in groups together," Hopkins said. "The freshmen are starting to figure out where they should be and who they should run with, so that's always good to see."
A handful of Gophers ran unattached, including Jamie Piepenburg (Alexandria, Minn.) in eighth (22:45.4), Ashlie Decker (Des Moines, Iowa) in 11th (23:28.4), and Violet Weibel (La Crosse, Wis.) in 21st (23:54.2) overall.
South Dakota State came in second to the Gophers in the team standings with 67 points, followed by Drake (74), North Dakota (112) and Minnesota State (121).
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