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Behind an individual win from Ali Weimer and an eight-point swing over the final kilometer, the Gopher women prevailed over No. 25 Utah Valley 47-53 to win the trophy on the Les Bolstad Golf Course.
“Literally this means the world,” Weimer said. “I think going in it was certainly one of our top goals, like a mountain top goal almost. Just with the past few years and how everything has been going, it’s been touch and go for a little bit, so this means the world to us. I think this is going to carry our confidence through the rest of the season.”
Weimer covered the 6-kilometer race in 21 minutes, 8.5 seconds to take the win in the gold division race, becoming the fourth Gopher in meet history to win the individual title on the women’s side, joining Rase Michniovaite in 1998, Megan Duwell in 2009 and recently Bethany Hasz in 2018.
Weimer was patient, and so was her teammate Emma Atkinson, who ran right by Weimer’s side throughout the race and eventually finished just five seconds behind her to finish second overall in 21:13.7, giving the Gophers an important three points.
“Going into the 3k, me and Ali (Weimer) were planning to mentally relax, just stay in that group and not take any risks,” Atkinson said. “Just because we know between 4 and 5k is pretty tough and can get you, so we did a really good job of staying confident, staying relaxed. Once we got to that 4k, that’s our ‘k’ and that’s where we decided to go.”
With Weimer and Atkinson battling for the top two individual spots, Utah Valley controlled most of the team race from the start.
At one mile, the Wolverines were ahead of Wyoming by 13 points and Minnesota was third with 82 points. Minnesota climbed to second once past the 3k mark and trailed only 15 points to Utah Valley.
By the 5k mark, the lead was down to two points, with Utah Valley still ahead of Minnesota.
In the final stretch, Minnesota had their 1-2 first across the line. Utah Valley saw Caila Odekirk (sixth, 21:43.1), Oakley Olson (ninth, 21:53) and Anna Martin (10th, 21:55.1) all finish within the top 10.
Brianne Brewster was the next Gopher across the line in 11th in 21:58.3, just ahead of Utah Valley’s number four in Allie Warner (12th, 22:02.6).
Then came Minnesota’s Erin Reidy, charging down the final 50 yards and passing five people, to finish in 14th place in 22:04.4, picking up crucial points.
Utah Valley’s fifth Julie Sumsion (16th, 22:05) was ahead of Minnesota’s fifth Izzy Roemer (19th, 22:08.5), giving both teams five individuals within the top 20.
In the end, the three points from Weimer and Atkinson factored into Minnesota defeating Utah Valley.
“I’m so proud of them because we knew this was in there,” Minnesota head coach Sarah Hopkins said.
“We knew the last couple of years this has been there, and we just haven’t been able to quite figure out the puzzle pieces to put it together. I’m just so thrilled for them because they’ve trusted and put their trust in me to keep them driving the ship and keep going in the right direction. We knew this day was possible.”
It’s also the third time in the last six Roy Griak Invitationals that the Minnesota women have claimed the gold division title and first time since 2021.
“Obviously we’ve had teams that have been top 10 in the country at nationals, and those are super exciting, but these moments are almost the same because you see all the hard work that goes into it,” Hopkins said.
“You see the girls and the women that are so committed to each other, and they want this so badly for themselves, they want it so badly for each other, the program. They know the legacy they came into of top Big Ten programs and they wanted to follow in that, so I think this is just one step on the way to doing that.”
Wyoming and Colorado State, who finished third and fourth, respectively, in the team race, were another pair of schools with multiple athletes finish in the top 10 individually, with Kylie Simhauser (third, 21:25.4) and Abigail Whitman (eighth, 21:52.5) leading the Cowgirls and Anna Petr (5th, 21:42.9) and Quinn McConnell (7th, 21:45.5) leading the Rams.
North Dakota State’s Reagan Baesler earned fourth in 21:35.7.
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