Courtesy of Wyoming Athletics 

ST. PAUL, Minn. (Sept. 19, 2025) – Senior Jacob White won the Merrill Fischbein Men’s 8k to lead the Cowboys to second while the Cowgirls took seventh at the 39th Roy Griak Invitational, Friday morning.

The Cowboys fell just short of being only the third team since 2000 to repeat as champions, finishing second to No. 16 Cal Baptist. With a team score of 54 points, the scoring five went 1-3-6-13-35.

White, who becomes the first Wyoming runner to win the Roy Griak individual title, avenged his last-second defeat at the Wyoming Invite last month with a time of 24:39.8. White was in second at the first three splits before overtaking South Dakota State’s Larson at the 5k mark and finishing nearly 20 seconds ahead of the competition.

Senior Ryker Holtzen was never far from White throughout the race as he finished third with a time of 24:57.6. In that third position at each split, he was broke away for a second-place finish, crossing the line only one second behind.

Newcomer Mathis Chavand finished next for the Cowboys in sixth with a time of 25:10.2, making three Cowboys in the top 10. After sticking in the top 3 at the one-mile mark, Chavand found his pace in the 5-to-6-place position. Senior Mac Zastrow took 13th with a time of 25:32.4 after a tough-fought race. Zastrow was in the top 10 until the 5k, split where he fell to 16th but would eventually make ground on three others to take 13th.

The final scoring Cowboy was redshirt-freshman Tanner Brown in 35th with a time of 26:20.2. Like Zastrow, Brown had to gain back some position after losing ground at the 5k split. He would find his way to his best placement in the final three kilometers and solidify the Cowboys’ second-place team finish.

Other finishers for the Cowboys were freshman Colin Olson in his first race in the Brown and Gold. He would finish 45th with a time of 26:36.6. Graduate Aidan Ramsey and sophomore Austin Akers crossed the line together at 56th and 57th with times of 27:00.4 and 27:01.5, respectively. Akers ran his personal best in the 8k by five seconds. Sophomore Meyer Smith took 66th with his time of 27:24.3, a personal best, and sophomore Nolan Hoffman rounded out Wyoming’s racers in 89th, crossing the line at 28:03.1.