UMD Runners 2nd in Season Opener

NSO-NEWS RELEASE

Paul Nisius obviously would have liked to see his University of Minnesota Duluth runners kick start their 2014 season with a team title Friday afternoon, but the championship that means the most to the veteran Bulldog head coach won’t be held for another couple months.

“A win today would have been nice, but I’m more concerned about the conference and region meets in November,” said Nisius the Bulldogs finished second at the seven-team Randy Smith Invitational in Glyndon, Minn. “Although we aren’t race sharp yet after only a couple weeks of practice, I do like where we are at this point.”

Host Minnesota State University-Moorhead, a Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference rival, produced the race’s top three finishers individual on its way to capturing first place (and shading the Bulldogs by five points). UMD was led by senior Dan Nielsen, who took fourth out of 72 individuals with an 8K time of 25:27.42 while fellow team captain Drew Johnson, a junior, was seventh (25:45.11).  Freshman Blake Anderson, making his college debut, was next for the Bulldogs (10th place; 25:55:43), followed by another rookie, Henry Jessen (11th; 25:56.80), senior captain Aaron Handorff (13th; 25:58:21), who was redshirted last fall, junior Mitch Fisher (14th; 25:59:26) and freshman Sam Johnson (18th; 26:06.93).

“The (Ponderosa Golf Club) course is very flat” said Fisher.  “If there had been more hills, I feel like we would have done a lot better because we practice more on that type of terrain. All things considered, I thought we ran well today.”

The Bulldogs won’t return to action until Sept. 27 for the University of Minnesota’s Roy Griak Invitational.