For the first time in his collegiate cross country career, Ashton Niemi (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji HS) led the Saints in varsity competition, finishing 29^th overall in the Ole Opener Men's 5km at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.  He completed the course just shy of a minute faster than he ran it last year at this time.

Macalester's John Ihrke won in a time of 15:59.4.  St. Olaf's All-American Kevin Turlington finished 2^nd in 16:00.8, and Macalester put their second runner in third, with Daniel Whiltse crossing in 16:01.4. 

Macalester won the meet with 25 points, with the host Oles finishing second with 36, and Bethel finishing 3^rd with 93 points.

Behind Niemi, the Saints ran a great team race, with the remainder of the scorers crossing just 8 seconds apart, and lots of debut scoring. 

Freshman Connor Feldt (Aurora, MN/Mesabi East HS) led the charge to the line in his collegiate debut, crossing the line 15 seconds behind Niemi in a time of 17:08.4, his second-fastest 5k ever, and fastest in two seasons, to finish 41^st. 

Nick Stoufis scored in his debut as a Saint as well, finishing 1.7 seconds slower in 17:10.1 for 42^nd place.

Kai Donnelly (Burlington, VT/Green Mountain Valley School) also debuted for the Saints in the 4^th scoring position, just 1.3  seconds behind Stoufis, with at time of 17:11.4, scoring 4^th . 

Five seconds later, Jeffrey Kayfes (Buhl, Minn./Mountain Iron-Buhl HS) closed out the Saints scoring, finishing 47^th in a time of 17:18.4, a whopping 2:12.8 faster than his opener last year on the same course.

All five Saints scorers finished within 15 seconds of each other. The Saints finished 5^th with 128 points.

The Saints return to action for the Hamline Invitational September 12^th at Highland Golf Course in St. Paul for the Hamline Invitational, which will go the full collegiate distance of 8km and a preview the 2025 MIAC Conference Championship course.