By Leah Rado, Athletic Media Relations Director

Results

DECORAH, Iowa – The College of Saint Benedict cross country team was in top form Saturday afternoon at the Luther All-American Invite in Decorah, Iowa.
 
Four Blazers recorded all-time personal bests and 10 Saint Benedict runners finished in the top 20 to help the Blazers finish first out of seven teams. CSB, which had five runners in the top 10, scored 38 points to beat out Luther Alumni, which took second with 45 points, and host-school Luther, which finished third with 75 points.
 
This marks the Blazer cross country team's first win of 2014. CSB won the Fall Finale in 2013 and tied for first at the St. Kate's Invite in October 2013.
 
Senior Manon Gammon-Deering finished fifth to lead the Blazers. She recorded an all-time personal best time of 18:44.8 and finished just four seconds out of fourth place. Luther's Tricia Serres won the race in 18:13.5.
 
Other runners in the top 10 for Saint Benedict included Bailey Drewes, first year Brooke Rasmussen, Jenna O'Donnell and Cathleen Gross. Drewes finished sixth in 19:02.4, Rasmussen took eighth in 19:21.5, O'Donnell finished ninth in 19:26.3 and Gross took 10^th in 19:28.8. O'Donnell and Gross both recorded all-time personal bests at the meet.
 
Emma Weber also recorded an all-time best for the Blazers and finished 13^th. She finished in 19:40.9. First year Victoria Burr finished in 19:41.1 and took 14^th, Sam Womeldorf completed the race in 19:49.3 and took 17^th, and Kiley Green and Olivia Dengel took 19^th and 20^th, respectively, in 20:02.7 and 20:03.8. Sophomore Elise Reid finished just outside the top 20. She took 21^st in 20:04.2.
 
"I am so proud of our women today," Blazer cross country coach Robin Balder-Lanoue said. "This is a tough course, and we had several personal bests. Everyone ran extremely well."
 
Saint Ben's runs again next Saturday, Sept. 20, when it travels to Colorado Springs, Colo., for the Colorado College Invite.