BEAVERS OPEN SEASON AT UND RON PYNN INVITATIONAL

The Beavers opened up the 2008 cross country on Friday at the UND Ron Pynn Invitational with the men finishing fifth led by freshman Brandon Velasquez's fifth place individual finish while the women were sixth behind the 37th individual place of junior Amanda Towle.

Velasquez (Chula Vista, CA) ran with the leaders from the start and toured the 8000-meter course layed out on the Ray Richards Golf Course in Grand Forks, ND in 26:42. He was joined by four more freshmen and a junior to give the Beavers a team total of 125 points.

The University of Manitoba won the men's title with 38 points and was followed by University of Mary, 56 points; host university of North Dakota in third and 73 points and Concordia College in fourth with 81 points. Jamestown College and United Tribes Technical College had incomplete teams. Rounding the Beavers scoring was Cory Meza in 28th and 29:27; John Towle 41st and 30:41; Dylan Hildenbrand 42nd 30:48; Khaldon Evans 50th 32:46; and Devin Hiller 51st and 32:48.

The men were hampered some by illness, injury and a missed bus. Meza and Evans were coming off a cold/virus that has been going around campus since school began. Hildenbrand had a flare up of soreness in his illio tibial band. Freshman Josh Kirkaldie, who has been running second in practices, missed the bus and thus the race.

Towle circled the 5000-meter race in 21:05 edging out freshman teammate Cassie Sayler and sophomore Lauren Dietrich who finished 38th in 21:14 and 40th in 21:20 respectively. Towle steadily moved up throughout the race passing her teammates in the last 800-meters. Rounding out the scorers for the Beavers were freshman Danielle Wangler in 47th and 21:57, sophomore Heidi Rettig 61st 22:55 and senior Kristen Wiebe 63rd and 23:20. Wangler was suffering from the campus cold/virus while Wiebe had an asthma attack during the race.

Host University of North Dakota won the team title with 33 points and took the individual title Brittany Brenny in 18:42. Jamestown College and University of Manitoba tied for second with 71 points while University of Mary was fourth with 80, Concordia College fifth with 94 and behind the Beavers in sixth was Bemidji State with 212 points.

Head Coach Stu Melby was pleased with his young teams' performances for their opener. “Considering the colds going around campus and the heavy training we have been doing I was pleased with our results,” said Melby. “It got us into the racing mode and gave the new runners an idea of what college races are like. We had one female and three males that didn't run, but watched and learned a lot and are very excited to get into their first race.”

Up next for the Beavers is a trip to Minneapolis for the Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday September 27th.