Hagen Takes the Win and the Wayzata Girls Go Back-to-Back


---

As one of two runners to travel from the middle of the Rocky Mountains from Summit High School in Colorado Ella Hagen had a longer trip than most for Roy Griak. Despite traveling nearly a thousand miles for the 2023 Roy Griak Invitational, Hagen came away victorious running a time of 17:55.7 to beat Libby Castelli by 8 seconds. 

Hagen was behind Castelli every step of the way throughout the race before passing her and outlasting everyone else in a sprint to the finish line at her first Roy Griak Invitational.

Hagen is the first girls winner from Colorado at the Griak since Riley Stewart in 2019. 

2023 Roy Griak Girls Championship - Top 10 Girls

PlaceRunnerTime
1

Ella Hagen

17:55.7
2

Libby Castelli

18:03.9
3

Norah Hushagen

18:10.1
4

Isabelle Schmitz

18:24.1
5

Anjali Hocker Singh

18:35.4
6

Evie Malec

18:43.2
7

Sydney Drevlow

18:45.0
8

Isabelle Bloker

18:49.8
9

Nora Gremban

18:54.1
10

Marissa Long

19:02.1

In running 17:55, Hagen became just the 14th girl to run under 18 minutes at the Griak and ranks #10 all-time with her time. 

Top Ten Girls Roy Griak Times All-Time

PlaceRunnerTime
1Emily Covert17:28.0
2Riley Stewart17:29.3
3Abbey Nechanicky17:37.9
4Elizabeth Yetzer17:45.1
5Jordyn Colter17:47.2
6Ali Weimer17:48.5
7Maria Hauger17:50.0
8Tierney Wolfgram17:50.7
9Allison Cash17:55.4
10Ella Hagen17:55.7

---

Wayzata Goes Back to Back at Griak

Winning their third Roy Griak title and their second in a row after beating Cherry Creek by 1 point last year, the Wayzata girls won more decisively this year beating the Johnston girls of Iowa by 29 points. The Wayzata girls despite the loss of Maddie Gullickson for the season and last year's top three runners, were able to easily win the meet this year. 

Wayzata won with sophomore Jazleen Malherek-Osorio as their top runner and won with a 19:47 5K average that was #1 in the field and one of only two sub-20-minute team averages in the field. Four of their top five runners at the meet were underclassmen with one junior. All girls should be back next year when Wayzata will go for the three-peat.