NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The No. 13-ranked St. Olaf College men's cross country team had the top-three individual finishers on its way to winning the 52nd edition of the St. Olaf Invitational on Saturday morning at the St. Olaf Cross Country Course.
Senior
Will Kelly, junior
Andrew Skemp, and sophomore
Kevin Turlington were the first three runners to cross the line to lead a 1-2-3-7-10 finish for St. Olaf, as the Oles finished 34 points ahead of UW-Eau Claire in the team standings with 23 points. St. Olaf and UW-Eau Claire were the lone regionally-ranked teams competing in the meet, with the Oles sitting third and the Blugolds sixth this week.
Kelly broke the previous meet record of 24:52.6 set in 2014 by former individual national champion Grant Wintheiser '15 by crossing the line in 24:47.3 to finish just over 30 seconds ahead of Skemp's second-place time of 25:17.0. Turlington was a little over 11 seconds behind Skemp in third in 25:28.8 to complete the sweep of the top-three spots.
Senior
Anders Cote and junior
Sean Hartney made it five Oles in the top 10 by finishing seventh (25:41.1) and 10th (25:50.1), respectively. Sophomore
Jack Deaver, junior
Jackson Marsh, and senior
Gabe Estrada checked in in the top 15, while sophomore
Gael Manzur Strandlund and first year
Wesley Sumner were in the top 20.
St. Olaf is off until the Blugold Invitational on Friday, Sept. 29 at 4:15 p.m. at Whitetail Golf Course in Colfax, Wis.
Gallery: (9-16-2023) Men's Cross Country St. Olaf Invite