Men’s XC: Buckeyes Face Strong Field at Griak Invitational – Ohio State Buckeyes
9/26/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Cross Country
The men’s Gold race will begin at 1:10 p.m. ET Saturday
COLUMBUS, Ohio — After a few weeks off, the Ohio State men’s cross country team, currently ranked eighth in the Great Lakes region poll, heads north to Minnesota for the 23rd Annual Roy Griak Invitational at the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights, Minn. The event is one of the largest in the nation this season with 350 teams and more than 4,000 student-athletes entered in the Griak’s 10 races.
The Gold Race, which begins at 12:10 p.m. CT, features a strong field with five teams ranked in the Top 30, including New Mexico, Iowa State, Auburn and BYU. Iowa and Minnesota are the only other two Big Ten teams Ohio State will face.
Ohio State will be paced by redshirt freshman Taylor Williams, who earned Big Ten Runner of the Week honors two weeks ago for his second-consecutive Top 5 finish at the Great American Legends race Sept. 5 in West Lafayette, Ind. Williams finished the 8,000-meter course with a time of 26:09 to take fourth place. The Sycamore, Ohio, native paced the Buckeyes to a second-place team finish. Williams also placed first at the Kent State short course meet to open the season.
“I have been very impressed with Taylor thus far,” head coach Robert Gary said. “As a redshirt freshman, Taylor has made the absolute most of his time to develop. We have a very young team this year, but he is running as strong as anyone else right now in the conference.”
Pushing Williams will be Christopher Olinger, Jake Edwards and Brian Gallagher — all of whom recorded Top 15 finishes at the Great American Legends race.
The Roy Griak Invitational is named after a living legend, former Golden Gopher cross country and track coach Roy Griak. Team and individual winners will be posted at www.gophersports.com as soon as possible following the completion of each race.
Click the link above for full meet information and the video to hear from Ohio State head coach Robert Gary.
