EAU CLAIRE, Wis. --- First-year Abbe Dufault set a new mark on Friday as the Crown Cross Country teams raced against a loaded 27-team tournament on Friday hosted by UW-Eau Claire. Dufault placed in the top fifty competitors (of 343) and ran a blazing 23:45, setting a new school record in the process. Fellow first-year Abby Hagen also reached the record books with Dufault as she ran the race in a 25:37, sixth all-time in the Crown XC scorebooks. Crown took 19th place in the contest with personal bests for the season by every single running as the Crown's Women's XC team placed higher than UM-Morris, the Minnesota Running Club, Saint Mary's, Dubuque, UW-River Falls, Martin Luther, Northwestern, Bethany Lutheran, and Concordia (Wis.).  

For the women, Dufault and Hagen were joined by Noelle Olson, who PR'd with a 26:08. Next up, Jessica Darling ran a 26:49 in the 6,000-meter race, and first-year Vicky Flores ran a 27:01. Flores joins the ranks of the Crown elite and now joins Dufault, Hagen, Olson, and Darling in the top-15 6k times in school history. Junior Marina Schwanke ran a 28:02, and sophomore Lynnea Asp ran a 30:57 to conclude the Storm performance.

For the men, first-year Nic Knutson broke the top ten in Crown history, running an 8,000-meter race breaking the 30-minute mark with a 29:59. Fellow first-year Michael Gregoria ran a 32:25, sophomore Casey Voss, ran a 33:10, first-year Tyler Davis ran a 34:40, and sophomore Alex Sugi ran a 35:56 to conclude the Crown team effort. 

At the Blugold Invite, there were seven women's teams that are ranked in the top ten of their respective regions and eleven men's teams. There are three women's teams that are ranked nationally and five men's teams. The Storm next compete at a home invitational, the St. Boni Invite, on October 18 on Crown College's campus.