COLFAX, Wis. – The cross country schedule is at the halfway point for the Yellowjacket men's team. Friday's race saw UWS enter the Blugold Invite, hosted at Whitetail Golf Course by UW-Eau Claire. The weather conditions cooperated for all participants, leading to numerous personal best performances from the 13 Yellowjacket entrants.
 
UW-Superior finished ninth place with a team score of 240, coming out as the leading Upper Midwest Athletic Conference (UMAC) squad above Northwestern and North Central in a heat of the region's top talent.
 
Race Notes

• A total of 13 teams and 227 individuals were in attendance for the Blugold Invite.
• The Yellowjacket men were led by senior Zach Reese (Zimmerman, Minn./Spectrum), who finished the 8k race with a 26:31.5 in 35th place. This time shaves nearly a full minute from his last race time and sets his new season high water mark.
• Aidan Doherty (Wild Rose, Wis./Wild Rose) finished second for the 'Jackets Friday and 47th overall, ending the course with a time of 27:10.6. He set a new season best Friday, beating his previous best by over a full minute.
• Directly following Doherty was Ben Plackner (Bovey, Minn./Greenway), ending his day with a 27:12.4, nearly three full minutes better than his previous 8k time.
• Up next for UWS was Kieran Johnson (South Range, Wis./Northwestern), clocking a 27:21.9 to improve his season best by nearly two and a half minutes.
• Maverick Hoogland (Catawba, Wis./Phillips) garnered a new high water mark in his young Yellowjacket career, ending his day with a race time of 27:45.9.
• Finishing the race with a 28:13.9 was Jayde Canfield (Prescott, Wis./Prescott), who also set a personal best Friday.
• Deryck Parduhn (Ashland, Wis./Ashland) shaved nearly a full minute off his previous race time, setting a new PR with a 29:12.7.
• A 29:30.6 race time was tabbed to Ben Addler (Castle Rock, Colo./Douglas County), who also set a new season best by nearly two minutes.
• Cale Newby (Bemidji, Minn./Bemidji) and Dominick Meisner (Bloomer, Wis./Bloomer) finished with times of 29:34.4 and 29:40.6, respectively. Both athletes posted season PR's Friday, with Newby shaving two minutes off his time and Meisner chopping roughly 90 seconds from his last race.
• Tyler Smith (Ironwood, Mich./Ironwood) nearly set a new season best during Friday's race, as he ended the day with a 30:42.6.
• Kevin Hufziger (Macedon, N.Y./Penfield) saw nearly a two-minute improvement on his 8k time, finishing his race with a 33:46.8.
• Rounding out the Yellowjackets was Oleksandr Danylov (Kyiv, Ukraine/European Collegium), who set a new personal record with a race time of 37:28.6.

 
The Yellowjackets will have one final tune up before the UMAC Championship race, traveling to Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island, Ill. The race is set for Saturday, Oct. 19 with an 11:45 a.m. start.