FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. – Minnesota State Moorhead cross country competed at the annual Roy Griak Invitational on Friday morning. Chase Hoechst and Katelyn Kennedy were the top individual finishers for the Dragons. 

The Dragon men finished fifth as a team while the MSUM women earned 20th place on the team leaderboard. 
 
The men's Jo Rider Maroon Race would begin the action for Moorhead as Chase Hoechst led the Dragons behind a seventh-place finish. Hoechst clocked a finishing 8k time of 26:51.5 to earn the overall placement. Jared Gregoire would finish within the top-25 behind a mark of 27:20.1, placing 23^rd overall. James Dorado would be the next Dragon to cross the finish line, marking a 27:44.4. Janis Riekstins would finish within the top-50 for MSUM as well, clocking a 27:59.
 
Luke Buentello would not be far behind Riekstins, finishing two places behind with a time of 28:01.2. Seth Meikle would register a new 8k collegiate best with a time of 28:17.2. Additionally, Ivar Martell (28:28.8), Eric Olson (29:19.3) and Rory Richardson (29:30.1) would all set new collegiate benchmarks in the 8k. 
 
Next up would be the women's Suzy Wilson Maroon 6k Race which featured Katelyn Kennedy as MSUM's top finisher. The junior turned in a finishing time of 26:08.8 with fellow junior Kaela Traugott turning in a mark of 26:58.7. Madison Kepner would not be far behind Traugott, finishing behind a time of 27:08.2. Freshman Lezah Dean (27:34.7) and Madilyn Albarado (28:57.2) rounded out the scoring for the Dragons with each setting new 6k collegiate bests. Eden Andres (29:56.7) and Brooke Bollmann (30:53.8) also set new 6k benchmarks in the race. 
 
Up Next
 
The Dragons will race next on October 3 as part of the SDSU Classic in Brookings, S.D. The women's race is set to start at 6 p.m. followed be the men's race at 6:40 p.m.