Results

MINNEAPOLIS – The Bethel University women's cross country team competed in one of the most prestigious NCAA cross country meets Saturday morning at the University of Minnesota's Roy Griak Invitational and the Royals gave a very promising performance with a 12th place team finish, as all five scoring runners for Bethel are either sophomores or freshman. Leading the way for Bethel was sophomore Annika Halverson who finished eighth after running from the lead pack the entire race.

Halverson took off the starting gun and was fourth after the first 1,000K and climbed to third after the first mile. She stayed within the top four for most of the race before just falling off at the end and finished in 8th place with a time of 23:52.

"Annika ran a tough race from the start which is what you have to do in a meet like this," said Royals first-year head coach Joe Stephens. "She led us well and showed a lot of discipline and character in how she ran. I was really proud of her as she went for it."

Finishing next for the Royals were sophomores Lindsay Johnson and Emmy Inwards who ran together and finished 68th and 69th with times of 26:53 and 26:54. A pair of freshman rounded out the Royals top five in Lydia Herath and Rebekah Schulte. Herath finished 73rd and Schulte 76th with times of 27:03 and 27:10. For Schulte it was her first collegiate race as she had missed the beginning of the season with an injury.

"To have two freshman finish in our top five and ticking people down the whole way is really good for us," said coach Stephens, who is no stranger to the Roy Griak Invite as Bethel is the fourth school he has been involved with at the meet. "They moved through the field with composure the whole way through."

Seniors Nikki Betzler and Rachel Needham finished just outside of Bethel's top five but gave solid performances finishing at 84th and 85th at 27:36 and 27:40. The 85th place finish was the second lowest number for a team's seventh runner from teams outside of the top five in the team standings.

"Going forward we've got to keep working hard if we are going to get to that next level," coach Stephens said. "I feel like in the future we can win the Roy Griak Inivtational but it's going to take a lot more of what we've been doing. A lot of positive attitude, belief in ourselves, competiveness and being composed enough to compete in this big environment. Overall it was a solid day but I think we can do better in the future."

The next meet for the Bethel women will be on October 10th at the St. Kate's Invite at 11 a.m.