Coming off of the hot and humid Griak Invitational, the Gophers made their way to Kentucky, facing cooler conditions and posting new personal records along the way.

Minnesota finished fourth in the Greater Louisville Classic 5K Saturday at E.P. “Tom” Sawyer State Park, and five Gophers broke their own personal best times. Bethany Hasz, Madeline Strandemo and Megan Hasz led No. 20 Minnesota with top-eight finishes.

“Overall, it was a really solid day,” said head coach Sarah Hopkins. “We were right in the mix of the teams we wanted to be with. Our top three were absolutely stellar today. I think that’s their best race of the season.”

Bethany Hasz finished sixth overall to lead the Gophers with a personal best time of 16:46.63 for a five kilometer race. Strandemo (16:47.66) and Megan Hasz (16:48.81) weren’t far behind, and finished in seventh and eighth place. It was a new personal best for Megan and a new seasonal best for Strandemo.

Bailey Ness (17:27.49) and Patty O’Brien (17:40.05) finished in 46th and 66th place, becoming the final runners to score points for the Gophers. Following the theme of the day, the runners posted their personal and seasonal best times, respectively.

No. 13 Boise State (82 points) took first overall in the standings out of 37 total teams, followed by No. 18 Wisconsin (107), No. 29 Furman (127), No. 20 Minnesota (129) and Northern Arizona (181).

The course gave the teams a preview of where they will compete for the 2017 NCAA Championship, which will take place on the same course. 

The Gophers are taking a week off and will be back the following week, when the team will split again. Minnesota’s top runners will compete on Oct. 13 at the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational in Madison, Wisconsin and the rest of the team will run at the Tori Neubauer Invitational hosted by UW-La Crosse on Oct. 14. 

“I think there are some modifications we can make going into October,” Hopkins said. “At this point, it’s really about tweaking and fine tuning.”