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Duke Men Set for 31st Roy Griak Invitational
9/23/2016 10:00:00 AM | Cross Country
DURHAM, N.C. -- The Duke men's cross country team returns to competition Saturday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for the 31st running of the Roy Griak Invitational. The Merrill Fischbein Men's Gold competition, slated for a 1:20 p.m. (ET) start, features a 30-team field that includes eight nationally ranked programs.
Fourteenth-ranked Boise State headlines the competitive lineup of teams attending the Roy Griak Invitational, while No. 17 Michigan, tied for No. 19 Oklahoma and Portland, No. 22 Furman, No. 24 Colorado State, No. 26 Southern Utah and No. 30 Michigan State also appear among the start list. In addition to the top-30 programs, Illinois, Iowa State and UCLA all received votes in the latest U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association (USTFCCCA) national coaches' poll and are also set to compete in St. Paul over the weekend.
The Blue Devils send a 10-man squad that includes junior Stephen Shine. Shine is slated to compete in his third consecutive meet, with the Briarcliff, N.Y., native serving as Duke's top finisher in each of the team's previous two competitions.
Sophomores Stephen Garrett and Nikhil Pulimood and junior Alec Kunzweiler return to action as well, after each registered a top-20 performance at the Sycamore Invitational. Garrett placed 13th overall in the contest, while Pulimood rounded out the top 20 with a 20th-place showing. Kunzweiler posted a 17th-place effort while competing in Terre Haute, Ind.
A quartet of freshmen, Cole Hoff, Dalton Randall, Tom Sullivan and Matt Wisner, is also slated to represent the Blue Devils for the third consecutive meet. Most recently, Sullivan served as the squad's top freshman, breaking into Duke's top three to place 14th overall at the Sycamore Invitational in an eight-kilometer time of 26:22.2. Randall, Hoff and Wisner crossed the line at the Sycamore Invitational as Duke's seventh, eighth and ninth finishers after completing the first collegiate eight-kilometer race of their respective college careers.
Juniors Josiah Hanko and Jordan Burton also earned a spot on the team's 10-competitor list, with Hanko slated to participate in his second competition of the season after opening his 2016 campaign at the Duke Alumni Meet three weeks earlier. Burton dons the Duke singlet for the third time this season after also seeing action at the Duke Alumni Meet and the Sycamore Invitational.
The Blue Devils last competed in the Roy Griak Invitational during the 2011 season, when the team posted a top-10 finish. One year earlier, Duke claimed the Roy Griak Invitational title, as former Duke standout Bo Waggoner finished eighth overall to lead the Blue Devil effort.
Results following the competition will be available here.
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