FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. – The Southwest Minnesota State University cross country teams competed at the 39th annual Roy Griak Invitational held at the Les Bolstad Cross Country Course on Friday.
 
The SMSU women finished in 18^th place in the Maroon 6K with a score of 529, while the SMSU men closed with 553 points to finish 19^th in the Maroon 8K.
 
Madison Marco was the top finisher for the Mustang women running the 6,000-meter course in a time of 25:05 to place 56^th out of a field of nearly 300 runners. Kyra Kusnierek finished 133^rd at 26:30, followed by Kirsten Koopal in 182^nd at 27:32 and Anneka Sedelmyer in 192^nd at 27:43. Kaitlin Olson ran 29:14 to place 226^th with Sophia Nelson closing at 30:34 to place 244^th.  
 
For the SMSU men, Carter Schwalbe was the team's top finisher with a time of 29:06 on the 8,000-meter course to place 129^th out of nearly 300 participants. Matthew Groebner ran 29:45 to finish 165^th, Logan Roelofs placed 182^nd at 30:08, while Roel Palomo finished 184^th at 30:10. Gavin O'Connell ran 31:23 to finish 216^th with Noah Christensen running 32:53 for 241^st and Daniel Olson placing 246^th at 33:29.
 
SMSU returns to action next Friday, Sept. 26, competing at the Wayne State College Wildcat Classic at Wayne Country Club.