RIVER FALLS, Wis. - The UW-Eau Claire men's cross country team opened the 2007 season today, taking first place in the UW-River Falls Triangular.

The race was not a traditional cross country meet, but instead was made up of 13 two-man teams. Each runner ran three 1,690-meter laps on an alternating basis with his teammate. Each team ran a total distance of about 10,140 meters or just over six miles.

Ten runners participated for the Blugolds and the groups finished fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth and tenth. The University of Minnesota runners finished first, second and third, but because they did not have ten runners, no team score was kept for them. However, the Blugolds' team score was good enough to beat UW-River Falls.

The first group of runners that finished for the Blugolds consisted of Tony Carr (Menomonie, Wis.) and Stanton Jasicki (Weyerhaeuser, Wis.), who finished with a time of 33:51. Luke Wieker (Hudson, Wis.) and Ben Wieker (Hudson, Wis.) finished only six seconds behind the first group. At 34:01, Charlie Daehler (Milwaukee, Wis.) and Jacob Pellman (Lodi, Wis.) crossed the finish line and only six seconds later, Bryan Willkom (Marshfield, Wis.) and Nate Flesch (Platteville, Wis.) followed. The final group finished at 34:38 and consisted of Roger Schulz (Salem, Wis./Shoreland Lutheran) and Mike Blank (New Berlin, Wis./West).

The Blugolds will run again next Saturday, September 15, when they travel to Northfield, Minn. for the St. Olaf Invite.

Complete Results

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