The University of Minnesota Duluth got its 2016 season off to an encouraging start by claiming the team title at the Crown College Invitational Saturday morning in St. Bonifacius, Minn.

The Bulldogs placed five of their runners among the top 11 finishers to post a team score of 31 points. Gustavus Adolphus College was next in the five-school event with 45 points while Concordia University-St. Paul, which like UMD competes in the Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference, was a distant third (72 pts.).

Cody Sedbrook was the individual champion, completing the 8,000-meter race in 26:32 and fellow junior team captain Henry Jessen placed third with a time of 26:55. Senior team captain Drew Johnson, who took last fall off from competition while interning with the Cargill Corporation, was sixth among 81 runners (27:22)  while junior Blake Anderson (10th place; 27:35), freshman Jake Kluver (11th; 27:50), freshman Kendall Hill (12th; 27:53) and junior Alex Naughton (13th; 28:00) were next for the Bulldogs.

"Overall, I was pleased with today's performances, especially given the wet course," said seventh-year UMD head coach Paul Nisius. "This meet will hopefully help us better prepare for some of the races we have coming up."

The first of those is the St. Olaf Invitational, which is set for Sept. 17 in Northfield, Minn.

2016 Crown College Invitational Results