The Roy Griak Invite at the U of M: Southwest Rocks the Show
   Up until this year, the best the Southwest men have performed at the Roy Griak Invite was a twelth place finish out of forty-some teams. Last year, with most of the top runners injured, Southwest finished a miserable place in the mid-30's. This year the Southwest men, all healthy and ready, managed to finish an impressive fifth out of the fifty-one teams present. They were the fourth fastest team from Minnesota and managed to outdo 6th-ranked Mounds View and 4th-ranked Wayzata in the process (though it is quite possible Wayzata did not run all their top runners). The finish is nonetheless impressive and brings more optimism to the men's team. After their first defeat at Hudson to the host team by just a few points, Southwest managed to beat Hudson by seventy points at Roy Griak.
   Forrest suffered his first defeat by Dustin Fier of Hudson at the Hudson invite. At this meet, however, he managed to take the win, beating Fier by nearly fifty seconds and out-kicking second place David VanOrsdel of Hopkins by two seconds. The Southwest men were backed up by a tough and close pack, finishing their second, third, fourth, and fifth runners all between seventeen and seventeen and a half minutes. This allowed Southwest to pull ahead of all their Region rivals that were present, including Edison, St. Louis Park, and South. 
   The girls ran well and finished teamwise twenty-first out of forty teams. They were led by Callie Pastarr and backed up by sophomore sensation Jamie Cheever who made her season debut. Behind her came Trina Pastarr, Molly Tolins, and Katherine Ketter. The women managed to pull ahead of city rival South.

Unofficial Results:
Men's 5000 Meter Times (Team Place - 5th of 51)
Forrest Tahdooahnippah - 15:37 - 1st
Neil Grosscup - 17:00 - 56th
Dan Dickinson - 17:19 - 80th
Erik DeLapp - 17:20 - 83rd
Erik Maloney - 17:28 - 96th
Gavin Weir - 19:03 - 316th
Eric Carter - 19:15 - 339th
Evan Rowe - 19:31 - 357th
Brian Hawthorne - 19:41 - 379th

Women's 5000 Meter Times (Team Place - 21st of 40)
Callie Pastarr - 20:02 - 24th
Jamie Cheever - 20:54 - 77th
Trina Pastarr - 21:48 - 139th
Molly Tolins - 21:52 - 145th
Katherine Ketter - 22:42 - 223rd
Lizzy Boosalis - 23:13 - 264th
Danielle Walter - 23:40 - 284th
Anna Laura Scandrett - 26:52 - 347th

   Also, noteworthy performances come from several JV runners the day before at the JV Mustang Invite. Senior Austin Groth PRed with a time of 18:54. Senior John Thompson and junior Derek Maanum tied with a time of around 19:25. Freshman Brad Russell ran an impresive sub-19:40. The depth of the team increases steadily and the runners are looking forward to the next couple meets, Blaine and Swain.

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