MSA cross country: Greta Siekmeier sets girls 5K record for Dragons at prestigious Roy Griak invite

The Math and Science Academy cross country teams competed in one of the country’s biggest races last week with the Roy Griak Invitational at the University of Minnesota’s Les Bolstad Golf Course.

At the meet, the Dragons girls took 28th place with 706 points and a total time of 1:53:13 in the 5K, 44-team Maroon race and the MSA boys took 44th place out of 53 teams with 1,037 points and a time of 1:36:38 in the Maroon boys 5K run. Dover/Eyota/St Charles won the girls race with 188 place points and a time of 1:44:04 and River Falls, (Wis.) won the boys race with 128 points and a 1:27:02 total time.

Individually, MSA freshman Greta Siekmeier set the school record in the girls 5K at the meet, running a 20:56 to take 34th place overall. Freshman Elise Lohmann wasn’t far behind with a time of 21:44, taking 77th place. Also, freshmen Katie Baumann, Ines Siepmann and Julia Ing rounded out the Dragons’ top five, in 132nd, 228th and 235th, respectively. Spring Valley junior Breeanna Colbenson won the girls race with a 5K time of 18:47.

Junior Jacob Siekmeier led the Dragons boys in the Roy Griak, taking 34th place with a time of 17:34 in the 5K. Senior Brady Hannula was next across the finish line for MSA, taking 186th place with a time of 19:06, followed by sophomore Shawn Ramberg, who took 219th with a time of 19:27, senior Sam Daniewicz, who took 295th with a time of 20:13 and junior Han Yong Wunrow, who took 303rd place with a time of 20:18. Cretin-Derham Hall junior Kevin Docherty won the boys race with a time of 16:19.

All in all, more than 350 men’s and women’s college teams and boys and girls high school teams numbering over 3,500 student-athletes, competed in the 2011 Roy Griak.

The prestigious race is named after Gophers coaching legend Roy Griak, who was Minnesota’s head men’s cross country coach for 33 years and continues to work with the Minnesota cross country teams to this day.

The Minnesota Invitational was started by Griak and current Gopher women’s coach Gary Wilson in 1986. The name was changed in 1995 to the Norstand Invitational and was kept that way until 1997 when Wilson suggested calling the meet the Roy Griak Invitational to honor Griak, who retired as head coach in 1996.

Next, MSA runs at the Rogers Invitational on Tuesday, Oct. 4.

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