CEDAR CITY, Utah — In their only home meet of the season, the Southern Utah Women’s cross country team took first place and the men took second.
The SUU Color Country Invitational was a rainy and cold meet, but the T-Birds brought their best effort. The women tallied 32 points to beat Idaho State, Utah Valley and Dixie State.
The men tallied 33 points, but lost out to a very strong Idaho State team that scored 41 points. It was a strong showing for both the men and women.
Many of SUU’s top runners were not available for the meet, and the weather led to a sloppier meet than usual for the Thunderbirds.
Maddy Kaufman finished with a time of 14:43. She was closely followed by Morgan Porcaro who crossed finished with a time of 14:47.
Unattached athlete Kasey Knevelbaard, who is currently redshirting for the Thunderbirds, finished first among the men with a time of 18:38. Mark Bennett was the first T-Bird to cross the line with a time of 19:02, go for fourth-best in the competition.
“The race went really well. I think overall, as an entire team we did really well. Things are looking good. We didn’t race our top guys, but it was good to have a performance, and it goes to show how much talent the team has.” Bennett said.
Bennett, who is from Tucson, Arizona, said he had never before run a race in such wet conditions.
“I’ve never experienced this because I’m from the desert, so it was a bit of a new experience for me. Once we got going it didn’t feel too bad. You kind of forget about it when you race.” Bennett said.
The teams will travel to Madison the Wisconsin Pre-National Tournament on Oct. 13 before the Big Sky Conference Championship on Oct. 27.
Story by: Connor Sanders
sports@suunews.net
Photo by: Connor Sanders
