FALCON HEIGHTS, Minn. — Utah Valley University's Mo Guled earned his second meet championship this season, winning the 38th Roy Griak Invitational on Friday morning at Les Bolstad Golf Course. The 25th-ranked Wolverine women were edged by host Minnesota for the team title while the UVU men finished sixth.
 
Guled was seventh after 3,000 meters and moved into the lead about halfway through the Men's Gold 8k. He began to pull away over the last 2k, winning in 24:55.3 to become UVU's first winner in the team's sixth trip to the Roy Griak.
 
"Mo winning is a huge accomplishment. We've never had anyone come here and win this, so very proud of him and his efforts. We're on a great trajectory and will continue to get better," said head coach Scott Houle of Guled and the men's squad. "This course is probably one of the most difficult courses in the country. There's very little flat area other than when you hit the bottom, you flatten out for a few steps and go right back up; you flatten out for a few steps, then go right back down. Overall, I think we handled today well and in a nice college cross-country atmosphere."
 
Caila Odekirk was the top finisher for Utah Valley's women, coming in sixth overall in 21:43.1. Oakley Olson (21:53.0) was ninth, Anna Martin (21:55.1) finished 10th, Allie Warner (22:02.6) was 12th, and Julie Sumsion (22:05.0) was the fifth scorer and finished 16th.
 
"The Girls race went really well with Caila leading the way for us. We have a lot of new faces on the women's side and we're figuring ourselves out. I think we're definitely in a good position with where we're at compared to our past teams," said Houle.
 
Minnesota took the top two spots, with Alie Weimer (21:08.5) taking first and Emma Atkinson (21:13.7) in second. The Gophers finished with 47 points to edge Utah Valley's 53 points to win on their home course. The Women's Gold 6k featured 17 teams and 211 competitors.

"Today was really hard trying to track down the two Minnesota runners," he said. "Those two low sticks are pretty dang good and that definitely makes a big impact on the race, so I think finishing second behind Minnesota was really good."
 
Behind Guled for the Wolverine men were Wyatt Mortenson (25:42.6) and Gilbert Olivas (25:42.7) in 27th and 28th, respectively. Adam Bunker (24:54.0) finished 41st and Andrew Blackham (26:17.7) rounded out the men's scoring with a 65th-place finish in the 17-team, 194-athlete race. Wyoming won the team title on the men's side, finishing with 63 points.
 
Guled also won the UVU Invitational to open the season on Aug. 30 at Scera Park. He was also named WAC Cross Country Athlete of the Week on Monday after his showing at last week's BYU Autumn Classic.
 
Utah Valley will be off next week before heading to Cedar City for the Color Country Invitational on Friday, Oct. 4.