SAUK RAPIDS, Minn. – The Concordia-St. Paul men's and women's cross country teams competed in the Bob Waxlax Invitational hosted by St. Cloud State on Wednesday evening. The Golden Bear men took fourth place with 89 points and the women finished in seventh with 197 points.

On the men's side, the field was made up of five NSIC teams with Minnesota State, Winona State, Southwest Minnesota State, Winona State, and Concordia-St. Paul competing. The Bears finished ahead of Southwest Minnesota State, besting the Mustangs' score of 151 by 62. The Mavericks claimed the meet title with 27 points while Minnesota Duluth was the runner up with 38 points.

The average time of the CSP men's top 5 runners was 26:34. just one second off the Concordia team record at the Wapicada Golf Course, set in 2018. The average was also a season best by 38 seconds.

For the women, the field was slightly larger with seven teams competing, all of which were from the NSIC. Minnesota State also claimed the women's title with a score of 28 and Winona State took second place with 33 points. The Bears fell behind sixth place Southwest Minnesota State by nine points.

The Golden Bear women's top 5 average time was 25:08, beating their average at the Tori Neubauer Invite by 29 seconds. It was also the third best time on the course for the CSP women. 

MEN'S TEAM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

Matthew Krummel finished as the top runner for Concordia for the first time this year, marking the third time this season that the Golden Bear's have been led by a different runner. Krummel broke the CSP course record set in 2018 by Ben Allen and set a career record time, clocking in at 25:29.20, and finishing in 10th place. It was the second fastest 8K time ever by a Concordia sophomore, six seconds behind the record set by Allen in 2017.

Fellow sophomore Owen Erickson also had a career best 8K run and was just three seconds behind Krummel (25:32.38), finishing in 11th. Erickson's time broke the previous CSP course record by 17 seconds and was the third best ever for a Concordia sophomore. 

Emmett Faltesek was the third Golden Bear runner to cross the finish line, placing 17th with a time of 26:13.41, breaking his career record by over a minute. His time ranks as the eighth best of any CSP sophomore and the fifth best time for a Concordia runner on the Wapicada Golf Course.

Ethan Blischke and Travis Andrews finished back-to-back to round out the scoring runners for Concordia, with Blischke grabbing 29th place with a time of 27:42.19 and Andrew taking 30th  with a time of 27:56.38. 

WOMEN'S TEAM INDIVIDUAL RESULTS

The Golden Bear women were led by Avery Sivonen with a 6K time of 24:23.30, good for 40th overall. It was a personal best and the eighth fastest all-time on the course by a CSP runner. She is the third CSP runner to lead the Bear's this season.

Freshman Makayla Harmer's time of 24:39.83 also cracked the top 10 all-time on the course for the CSP women. It broke her personal record by 21.1 seconds and put her in 48th overall in the field of 78. 

Saturday's leader for the Golden Bear's swapped with Sivonen as the third CSP runner across the line. clocking a time of 24:56.5 and taking 53rd place. Tess Houglum finished as the number four runner for the Bears, grabbing 65th place with a time of 25:46.2, a career best.

Anna Sajdak capped off the five scoring runners for Concordia, setting a new personal record time of 25:56.2, improving by 35.4 seconds from her time at the 2021 Lucian Rosa Invitational. She improved her season-best time by 1 minute 55 seconds from her time this last Saturday.

The Bears will see their next action when they head to Wayne, Neb. for the NSIC Championships hosted by Wayne State on November 5. 

Coaches Notes
"I am so happy for our runners.  It is so impressive that 22 out of the 29 CSP performances in the last five days were new personal best times, and most of them were massive PRs. I didn't know how today's races would go with such a short turnaround.  Our runners stood up to the challenge in a way that can only be described with the hashtag #BeGolden. We have high expectations of ourselves and the work is not done.  We know where we stand in the conference standings.  We have another few weeks of work and a strong taper to get us to the conference championship.  This is the team I am proud we are taking into this extremely competitive championship season."
-Head coach Jonathan Breitbarth on the team's performance.
 
Ladies Team Notes

• The average time for our top 5 ladies of 25:08 is the 3rd fast time by a CSP team at the Wapicada Golf Course. 
• Today's average time of CSP's top 5 ladies was 1 minute and 56 seconds faster than the 2021 average time of the top 5 CSP ladies at the Wapicada Golf Course.
• Today's average time of CSP's top 5 ladies was the fastest top 5 average time of the season, improving by 29 seconds from the time last Saturday at UW-La Crosse.  It was 1 minute and 49 seconds faster than the CSP top 5 ladies' average time at the Roy Griak.
• The time between CSP's 1st runner and 5th runner was 1 minute 32.9 seconds.  This was the best split time at the Bob Waxlax, improving upon the 1 minute 54.4 second split at the 2021 Bob Waxlax.  The 1-minute and 32-second split mirrored the 1:32 split by the Golden Bears this past Saturday at the Tori Neubauer Invitational.

Ladies Individual Notes
40th Place – Avery Sivonen – 24:23.3 – Runs the 8th fastest race by a CSP athlete on the Wapicada Golf Course.  Sets a new personal best time improving by 32.5 seconds on her time from the 2021 Lucian Rose Invitational.  She improves her season-best time by 1 minute and 5.7 seconds from her time last Saturday.  She runs 1 minute 30.9 seconds faster at the 2022 Bob Waxlax than the 2021 Bob Waxlax Invitational.  10 runners ran both the Roy Griak and the Bob Waxlax who beat Avery at the Griak but lost to her at St. Cloud.

48th Place – Makayla Harmer – 24:39.9 – Runs the 10th fastest race by a CSP athlete on the Wapicada Golf Course.  Sets a new personal best time improving by 21.1 seconds from her time this past Saturday.

53rd Place – Kelsey Thelen – 24:56.5 - 7 runners ran both the Roy Griak and the Bob Waxlax who beat Kelsey at the Griak, but lost to her at St. Cloud.

65th Place – Tess Houglum – 25:46.2 – Sets a new personal best time improving by 29.2 seconds from her time this past Saturday.  Tess runs 1 minute 46.1 seconds faster at the 2022 Bob Waxlax than the 2021 Bob Waxlax Invitational.  3 runners ran both the Roy Griak and the Bob Waxlax who beat Kelsey at the Griak but lost to her at St. Cloud.

69th Place – Anna Sajdak – 25:56.2 – Sets a new personal best time improving by 35.4 seconds from her time at the 2021 Lucian Rosa Invitational.  She improves her season-best time by 1 minute 55 seconds from her time this last Saturday.  Anna runs 50.4 seconds faster at the 2022 Bob Waxlax than the 2021 Bob Waxlax Invitational.

73rd Place – Jaid Perry – 26:24.7 – Sets a new personal best time improving upon her time from Saturday.  Jaid ran 44.2 seconds faster at the 2022 Bob Waxlax than the 2021 Bob Waxlax.

74th Place – Olivia Cole – 26:26.3  - Sets a new personal best time improving by 1 minute 20.6 seconds from her time at the Roy Griak Invitational.
 
Men's Team Notes

• The average time for our top 5 men of 26:34 is the 2nd fast time by a CSP team at the Wapicada Golf Course and just one second behind the 26:33 mark posted by the 2018 CSP Golden Bear team.
• Today's average time of CSP's top 5 men was 43 seconds faster than the 2021 average time of the top 5 CSP men at the Wapicada Golf Course.
• Today's average time of CSP's top 5 men was the fastest top 5 average time of the season improving by 38 seconds from the time last Saturday at UW-La Crosse.  It was 1 minute and 9 seconds and 1 minute and 12 seconds faster than the CSP top 5 men's average time at the Roy Griak and Paddy Doyle respectively.
• The time between CSP's 1st runner and 5th runner was 1 minute 32.9 seconds.  This was the best split time at the Bob Waxlax improving upon the 1 minute 54.4 second split at the 2021 Bob Waxlax.  The 1-minute and 32-second split mirrored the 1:32 split by the Golden Bears this past Saturday at the Jim Drews Invitational.

Men's Individual Notes
10th Place – Matthew Krummel – 25:29.2 – Matthew runs the 4th fastest race of all time in CSP school history.  Matthew establishes a new CSP course record at the Wapicada Golf Course, bettering the mark set by Benjamin Allen in 2018 by 20 seconds.  Matthew runs the 2nd fastest race ever by a CSP sophomore runner.  Matthew Krummel establishes a new personal best time improving by 1 minute 22.2 seconds from his time this last Saturday.  Matthew runs 2 minutes and 19 seconds faster at the 2022 Bob Waxlax than at the 2021 Bob Waxlax Invitational.  5 runners ran both the Roy Griak and the Bob Waxlax who beat Matthew at the Griak but lost to him at St. Cloud. 

11th Place – Owen Erickson – 25:32.4 – Owen runs the 6th fastest race of fall time in CSP school history.  Owen breaks the old CSP Wapicada Golf Course Record by 16.8 seconds.  Owen runs the 3rd fastest race ever by a CSP sophomore runner.  Own establishes a new personal best time improving by 27.6 seconds from his time on Saturday.

17th Place – Emmett Faltesek – 26:13.5 – Runs the 5th Fastest race by a Wapicada Golf Course.  Emmett runs the 8th fastest race ever by a CSP sophomore.  Emmett establishes a new persona best time, improving by 1 minute 2.7 seconds from his time this last Saturday.  6 runners ran both the Roy Griak and the Bob Waxlax who beat Emmett at the Griak but lost to him at St. Cloud. 

29th Place – Ethan Blischke – 27:42.2

30th Place – Travis Andrews – 27:56.4 – Travis establishes a new season-best time improving by 4 minutes 13.3 seconds from his time at the Paddy Doyle Invitational.  Travis's time today was faster than his mark at the 2021 Bob Waxlax Invitational.

32nd Place – James Frigstad – 28:16.3 – James establishes a new personal best time improving by 26.5 seconds from his time on Saturday.  James runs 1 minute 0.8 seconds faster at the 2022 Bob Waxlax than the 2021 Bob Waxlax Invitational.

35th Place – Cullen Flieth – 29:29.3 – Cullen establishes a new personal best time by improving by 41.4 seconds from his time this last Saturday.