Although the weather was humid and many runners were sick, cross country team member sophomore Nebyu Bekele said he thought the team performed well at the Roy Griak Invitational Sept. 23.

Senior Abati Dedefo placed 3rd out of 499 runners, according to gophersports.com.

According to gophersports.com, race officials opted to change the time to earlier than scheduled to ensure runners were kept safe from the high temperatures.

Bekele said although the race was difficult, he is very happy with the results and thought the rest of the runners performed well.

“Overall I think our team did great. More than half of our team was sick, but we went out and fought and I am proud,” Bekele said.

Freshman runner Danny Walsh said he thinks the team did well considering the tough competition.

“I have not seen the results yet, but I believe we did pretty good especially with so many runners.” Walsh said.

Assistant coach Kelson Mackenzie said even though there were a few setbacks, the team was able to pull their weight and have high placing runners.

“For the most part I think the team pulled through. I realized that the Homecoming dance is always a disaster,” Mackenzie said. “It certainly affected our team slightly. We pulled through.

According to Walsh, the top runner from the boys’ cross country team at the race was senior Abati Dedefo.

“I heard (Dedefo) got third (place), which is pretty good especially with so many runners,” Walsh said.

According to gophersports.com, the top runner in the girls’ cross country team was eighth grader Josie Mosby, ranking sixth out of 408 runners.

According to Mackenzie, the team will have many meets to come.

“We have a meet tomorrow and the week after, so we’re just gearing up for conference,” Mackenzie said.