GRAND FORKS, N.D. – North Dakota will travel to Minneapolis for the Roy Griak Invitational this Friday. The men's 8K race will begin the meet at 10 a.m., followed by the women's 6K slated for 10:45 a.m.

Live results of the meet will be provided by Wayzata Timing. The meet will also be streamed on Runner Space and available with the purchase of a subscription.

Both Teams Make History in USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Rankings
In the latest USTFCCCA Midwest Regional Rankings, both North Dakota teams are ranked. This marks just the second time that both teams have been ranked in the polls at the same time at this point in the season.

North Dakota's women moved up one spot and are currently No. 8 in the poll. It is the best the women have ever been ranked since the creation of the poll in 2012. UND is also the top-ranked squad from the Summit League in the poll, trailed by South Dakota State at No. 9.

The UND men are No. 12, tying the best they have ever been ranked in the poll. The Fighting Hawk men were last ranked 12th at this point last season.

Last Time Out
North Dakota ran under the lights at the Dragon Twilight on the campus of Minnesota State Moorhead two weeks ago and won both team titles. UND's women claimed the 5K title with 15 points, while the North Dakota men were victorious in the 6K with 20 points.

Jadyn Keeler earned her second 5K title of the season and broke the meet record with a personal-best time of 16:05.8. Her PR was not only a personal improvement of over a minute and 25 seconds but shattered the meet record time of 17:34.6, set by recent Hawk Eliana Malnourie at the meet in 2024. Keeler finished the race over a minute quicker than the rest of the competition.

Marie-Louise Jorgensen was the runner-up in the 5K race with a PR time of 17:09.1, recording an impressive personal best improvement of more than two minutes. Shewaye Johnson, competing in her first meet as a Fighting Hawk, clocked a personal-best time of 17:09.4 and placed third. Olivia Correale, Frida Giersdroff and Elle Sondag each recorded PRs and finished fourth (17:39.6), fifth (17:40.6) and sixth (17:48.2), respectively. Gabrielle Wahl was the final Hawk in scoring position and took eighth with a PR of 17:55.1.

Louis-Lys Fanucchi was the runner-up in the 6K with a personal best of 16:51.5, trailed by Matej Hrebacka in third (16:52.4), Aleksa Milanovic placing fourth (16:53.5) and Jonas Weschle finishing fifth (16:54.5). All of those times were personal-best marks by over a minute. Ethan Adams earned the most impressive PR of the meet, crossing the finish line sixth with a time of 16:56.9, which was a 6K improvement of more than three minutes. Ian Busche came in seventh with a personal-best time of 17:02.2, while Niko Angell was 10th in 17:13.6. Angell's PR was also an improvement of more than a minute.

Summit League Accolades
Kwik Star Peak Performer of the Week
- Jadyn Keeler – Women's Cross Country (Sept. 9)

Last Year at the Roy Griak
UND took part in the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis and finished 11th (305 points) as a team in the 8K and 13th (330) in the 6K. The 11th-place finish for the men was the best team finish at the meet for NoDak since moving up to Division I.

Matej Hrebacka led the way for NoDak in the 8K and was 42nd in 25:54.1. Aleksa Milanovic and Louis-Lys Fanucchi were the next-best finishers, taking 53rd (26:05.1) and 54th (26:05.4), respectively. Jonas Weschle was fourth for the Hawks, finishing 77th in 26:29.1, trailed by Niko Angell (101st, 26:46.7), Eric Weiss (116th, 26:57.3) and Alan Ash (132nd, 27:14.6).

Eliana Malnourie paced the women in the 6K and finished 27th with a time of 22:27.0. Naja Weiler was the second-best finisher for UND and took 32nd in 22:32.7. Frida Giersdorff, Olivia Krafty and Olivia Correale were the next UND runners to finish and crossed the finish line 95th (23:34.2), 129th (24:07.5) and 130th (24:08.8), respectively. Elle Sondag (137th, 24:18.8) and Gabrielle Wahl (145th, 24:32.4) rounded out the scoring for the Hawks.

Hawks to Watch
At the beginning of the season, the Summit League announced the annual preseason poll, along with the names of four UND student-athletes who were named Athletes to Watch in the Summit League this season. Both NoDak teams were tabbed third in the preseason poll. The Hawks named Athletes to Watch are Jadyn Keeler, Shewaye Johnson, Ian Busche and Matej Hrebacka.

Keeler redshirted last cross country season but previously earned Second Team All-Summit League honors in 2023 and First Team All-Summit League accolades in 2022. This August, Keeler made headlines at the Jr. Pan American Games in Asunción, Paraguay, where she ran for her home nation of Canada and was the gold medalist in the 10,000 meters (34:16.61) and silver medalist in the 5,000 meters (15:56.77).

Johnson, a transfer from Texas A&M, finished 22nd in the 6K with a time of 20:08.4 at the NCAA Division I South Central Regional Championships last season. She also finished 67th in the 6K at the SEC Cross Country Championships in 20:37.0. In 2023, she was a national qualifier for the NCAA Championships, where she took 231st in the 6K with a time of 22:07.5.

Busche ran a time of 26:06.0 at the Summit League Championships to finish 39th last season. He also clocked PR times of 23:58.7 in the 8K at the Arturo Barrios Invitational and 17:52.8 in the 6K at the Dragon Twilight Invitational.

Hrebacka garnered Second Team All-Summit League status with an eighth-place finish in the 8K in 24:50.37 last season. His finish gave him the fourth-best finish by a UND runner at the meet in school history. He also paced the UND men at the NCAA Midwest Regional and took 83rd, clocking a time of 31:04.96.

On Tap
North Dakota will have next weekend off before visiting Brookings for the SDSU Classic on Oct. 3.