The Southern Utah University cross country teams wrapped up competition at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational early Friday morning. In a competition filled with nationally ranked teams, the women’s team finished 16th, while the men’s finished 18th.
Women’s recap
The women finished the 5,000-meter with 423 points, just behind programs such as the University of Iowa and the University of San Francisco.
Junior Sariah Hernandez led the way for the Thunderbirds, finishing 27th overall with a time of 17 minutes and 10 seconds. Taylor Jorgensen followed with a finishing time of 18:08.1 and a 93rd overall finish.
Daisy Baker finished 117th overall with a time of 18:39.1, while Quinn Hagerman was close behind with an 18:48.8 time in 119th place, and Adisen Stratton finished three spots behind her with a time of 18:53.2.
Rounding out competition for the women was Ellary Battle and Madison Patrick, who finished 133rd and 134th with times of 19:34.3 and 19:41.4.
Head coach Eric Houle commented on the team’s performance: “I expected the results from the women because we sent a very young team. The experience was valuable, and I hope it will help them in future competitions.”
Men’s recap
In the five-mile, the men’s team finished with 441 points and was led by Jacob Peterson, who finished in 75th with a time of 24:44.9. Following close behind him was Coleman Cragun with a 82nd place finish and a 24:49.1 time. Noah Jenkins came in 90th place with a 24:55.6 finish.
Max Jones, Bowen Martin and Travis Feeny finished back to back in 104th, 105th and 106th with times of 25:10.7, 25:11.7 and 25:14:0, respectively. Wrapping things up for the T-Birds was Lanse Larsen in 128th place with a time of 25:36.6.
“Most of the guys were sick the week before, but I felt they were coming around and ready to race. By today’s results, they weren’t,” said coach Houle. “We are a much better team. We have great athletes and they are in excellent shape. We’ll set our sights on the next competition and do much better.”
Up next
The teams will be back in Cedar City next Saturday, Oct. 7, when they host the SUU Color Country Invitational at the Cedar Ridge Golf Course.
Author: James Wilson
Photos courtesy of SUU Athletics
Editor: Anden Garfield
sports@suunews.net
