COLFAX, Wis. -- The UW-Stevens Point cross country teams traveled to UW-Eau Claire to hit the trails at the Blugold Invitational. The UWSP men took fifth in the 30-team field as freshman Logan Murphy (Sheboygan Falls, Wis./Sheboygan Falls) led the way. The UWSP women took a 16^th-place finish in the 25-team field after a strong debut by junior Rachel Krouse (Milwaukee, Wis./Wauwatosa West).
 
Results
 
Murphy raced to a 24^th-place finish with a time of 25:48.1, finishing just under 10 seconds from a top-20 finish. Logan Lutz (Greendale, Wis./Greendale), Mike Brown (Butternut, Wis./Butternut) and Aidan Schleutermann (Woodstock, Ill./Woodstock) followed quickly behind as they all finished in the top-50. Lutz and Brown made late pushes down the final stretch to squeeze into 44^th and 47^th place to aid in the Pointers top-five team finish. Joseph McNulty (Mukwonago, Wis./Mukwonago) and Kyle Pflug (Paddock Lake, Wis./Westosha Central) also had strong days as they placed just outside of the top-50 with McNulty at 55^th (26:15.1) and Pflug finishing at 61^st (26:22.3).
 
Krouse, in her 2023 season debut, found herself in the top-seven after running a time of 22:34.0 to finish just five seconds out of the top five. Gabri Gaines (Madison, Wis./Memorial) finished in 97^th place with a time of 24:36.9. Judith Meister (Darlington, Wis./Darlington) finished in 137^th place with Hadley Reines (Marinette, Wis./Marinette) quickly behind her with a 141^st place finish. Rounding out the Pointers top runners was Ani Oxborough (Muskego, Wis./Muskego) and Madeline Erb-Suciu (Glenview, Ill./New Trier) who each finished just inside of the top-150.
 
UWSP returns to the course on Saturday, Oct. 14 at the Augustana Regional Rumble. Race time is set for 11:45 a.m.