Sept. 27, 2007

Minneapolis, Minn. - The 2007 Men's Gold Race of the Roy Griak Invitational features a field of teams definitely more concerned about where they are headed then where they have been. The highest ranked team in the Griak field is Minnesota at No. 18, a squad striving to return to the NCAA Championships this season. The Griak field also finds a spattering of teams with various national rankings, while other teams that competed at the NCAA Championships a year ago, are on the outside of the poll looking for respect.

The host Golden Gophers enjoyed a roller-coaster ride of a season in 2006. One of the highest points was a second-place finish in a talent-laden Griak Invitational. Minnesota struggled, however, at the NCAA Midwest Region Championships and the Gophers saw their streak of consecutive NCAA Championships berths end at nine. The 2007 Gophers are a hungry squad working to return to the nation's elite. An early-season victory at BYU, has the Gophers running as a confident group heading into this year's Griak.

The Gophers' top gun is junior Chris Rombough, the defending Big Ten Conference champion. Rombough showed drastic improvement as the 2006 season wore on. He matched his 14th-place Griak finish at the NCAA Championships to capture All-America honors. Interestingly enough, Rombough's supporting cast of Golden Gophers include three runners who capture Griak high school individual titles: Forrest Tahdooahnippah, Mike Torchia and Hassan Mead. Tahdooahnippah is a fifth-year senior who graduated from Stanford and is attending law school at Minnesota. He was the Cardinal's fourth finisher as Stanford placed fourth at the 2006 NCAA meet.

The Lumberjacks of Northern Arizona, ranked No. 19 this week, boast the top individual returner to the Griak field in senior Lopez Lmong. Lmong finished fourth in the NCAA Championships a year ago to capture All-America honors. The 2006 Griak runner-up is among the favorites to win the crown this season. Teammate Marten Bostrom finished 20th in 2006.

The Michigan State Spartans enter the Griak Invitational ranked No. 23. Michigan State has a trio of runners back from their 2006 NCAA squad that finished 17th: Dustin Voss, Nick Katsefaras and David Bills. Bills will not be competing in the Griak.

The Virginia Cavaliers are ranked No. 28 coming off a 14th-place finish in the 2006 NCAA Championships. The Cavaliers, however, lost two seniors off that squad and will be looking for a group of experienced NCAA runners in Jan Foerster, Andy Biladeau, Taylor Smith and Andrew Jesien to step up. Foerster earned All-America honors with a 32nd-place finish at NCAAs. Virginia placed third at the Griak last season.

Iowa State tops the list of the large contingent of Big 12 Conference teams (Iowa State, Kansas, Kansas State, Missouri, Nebraska and Oklahoma) competing in this year's Griak. The Cyclones are currently ranked No. 29 and feature the talent of junior Uhl Kiel, the seventh-place finisher in the Griak a year ago.

There are three teams entered in the Griak that could pull off big surprises: Washington State, Kansas and Lamar.

Washington State placed 29th in the NCAA Championships in 2006 and returns six of its seven runners from that NCAA lineup, yet the Cougars have yet to break into the national poll this season. Juniors Woody Favinger and Drew Polley were Washington State top two runners at the NCAA meet, followed by Andrew Jones, Alex Grant, Chris Williams and Daniel Geib.

Kansas is another team, though unranked, that could make some waves especially at the front of the battle for Griak medalist honors. Senior All-American Colby Wissel placed 10th at the Griak and went on to post a 26th-place showing at the NCAA Championships. Teammate Paul Hefferon, who was 16th at the Griak and 42nd at the NCAAs, gives the Jayhawks a solid 1-2 punch.

The Lamar Cardinals, the defending Southland Conference champions, came to the 2006 Griak and promptly landed two freshmen, Sammy Kosgei and Frances Kasagule, in the top 11 finishers. Kasagule was the second freshman finisher in the 2006 NCAA Championships field and earned All-America honors with a 29th-place finish.

The Indiana Hoosiers also boasted one of the top freshman runners last season in Kyle Jordan, the third freshman finisher at the NCAA meet and an All-American with a 33rd-place finish. Jordan will be competing in his first Griak Invitational.