MANKATO, Minn. - After being held back by weather the last two weekends, head coach Aaron Lund and assistant coach Brenden Huber elected to send a small contingent of runners down Highway 169 to represent Gustavus in the women's 5000-meter at the Minnesota State Open. 

The field was concentrated of eight Division II opponents from Minnesota-Duluth and St. Cloud State, accompanied by a solo runner from Division III Buena Vista. As for the Gusties, first-years Siiri Anderson (Duluth, Minn.), Anna Forbord (Northfield, Minn.), and Anna Gould (Amery, Wis.) ran along with two from the junior class, Elsey Hagen (Starbuck, Minn.) and Mackenzie Murphy (Belle Plaine, Minn.). 

Forbord led the group by finishing in second with a time of 19:13.56. The first-year wave continued for Gustavus, with Anderson and Gould finishing in fifth and seventh for the group. Gould also had a personal-best of 20:19.01 in the race. Juniors Hagen and Murphy rounded off the performances for the Gusties in 11th and 12th, finishing just .29 apart at 21:17.21 and 21:17.50. 

Gustavus track & field hosts the Gustie Twilight on Wednesday in their first home meet of the season and first in 352 days, dating back to the Drake Alternative last year.