More than 600 runners were lined up to compete Saturday in Oshkosh for the UW-Oshkosh Invitational at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wisconsin.

The men finished in second place and the women eighth out of 36 teams.

North Central College of Illinois won for the men, and Washington University of St. Louis came out first for the women.

The Blugold Women finished within close range to the teams who placed above them. St. Thomas (Minn.) finished in sixth with 220 points and seventh place Wartburg College (Iowa) ended with 241 points. Eau Claire came in just five points behind.

The men followed North Central College (Ill.) by a reasonable amount, 50 points. Dan Schwamberger, coach of the team, said he thinks North Central College has the best team in the nation.

“We know that they (North Central) are one of the top ranked teams, so our goal is always to be right near them,” senior runner Matt Cyra said.

Oshkosh’s course is one of the favorites among the runners. Morgan Marek, sophomore runner said it is mostly flat and there are spectators everywhere. She said the running conditions were perfect for their race on Saturday.

Karen Gomez, sophomore runner on the team, said the meet was a big adjustment coming from the Blugold meet.

She said they had to get out faster than in previous races because of the large group of runners, but as they got further, they used the normal strategy.

To get ready for the meet, the team did short interval workouts and 200 meter accelerations in preparation for a faster start.

Tyler Kobilarcsik, sophomore runner on the team said the Oshkosh meet is more of a meet to train through, rather than prepare for.

Now that the team is getting deeper into the season, they are starting to feel the effects on their bodies from the harder workouts. Cyra said the team did not feel 100% during the race, even though they ran well overall. He said last week was one of the tougher weeks of training so far, and as a result, their legs felt heavier as they raced.

With about five weeks left in the season, Schwamberger said getting good recovery is important for the team.

“Workouts are important, but you do not gain anything from the workouts if you do not recover from them,” Schwamberger said.

Eau Claire will host a home meet next week at Lowes Creek County Park in Eau Claire. This meet will not be a typical meet because only half of the team will run. The 5K course will be mostly for the runners who will not be participating in conference meet.

At conference, the top 12 runners of each team are able to compete. The runners who do not go to conference will run on Friday and later in the season at UW-Platteville for the Gender Equity meet.

“It has always been a small meet, and it has always been fun because historically, people run really well there,” Schwamberger said.

The Lowes Creek 5K meet will be at 4 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 21 at Lowes Creek County Park in Eau Claire. The meet includes UW-Stout and unattached entries. The WIAC conference meet will be in two weeks in Stevens Point.