One week after flashing their potential, Northwestern’s precocious youngsters were reminded they have plenty of room for improvement. The team finished 27th in the 2005 Roy Griak Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

After dominating the Midwest Open from start to finish last week, the Wildcats faced much steeper competition in Minneapolis. The Griak Invitational, named after former Gopher cross country and track coach Roy Griak, hosted 40 teams, including 15 that were ranked in the top 30 nationally. This year’s field – the largest in the event’s 20-year history – featured some of the top high school and college runners in the country.

“If we want to get back to the NCAA championship, we have to put ourselves on the line against tough competition and maybe take a beating once in a while,” said fifth-year coach Amy Tush.

Arizona State won the Women’s Gold Race (Division I).

Carly Brown led the Cats with a 23:22 time. Brown and fellow freshmen Allison King and Hilary Forman accounted for three of NU’s top four finishes. Sophomore Marie Grabinski, who led the Cats in every race last year, posted the team’s third best time at 23:46.

All seven NU runners who placed on Saturday are underclassmen. The team graduated three starters last year. Inexperience might have been a factor at the Griak, as the Cats stumbled to a slow start and were never able to recover.

“These kids are running 4 or 5Ks in high school,” Tush said. “Then they have to move up to 6K. It was a learning experience. We know what it feels like now to run those extra 3 1/2 minutes.”

Reach Gerald Tang at [email protected].