CEDAR CITY, Utah - The Thunderbird cross country program hosted the 2016 Color Country Invitational on Saturday morning at Cedar Ridge Golf Course, and both the men's and women's team emerged with first place finishes.

The women's team started the morning with a 4K race where the Thunderbirds were led by Sharlie Dimick, who finished the race in 14:32.00 to finish in fourth overall. This marks the first Dimick has been the top finisher for the Thunderbirds.

Angie Nickerson finished second for SUU and seventh overall with a time of 14:36.40, she was immediately followed by freshman Emma Amundsen who finished in 14:41.30.

The Thunderbirds had a pack of three finish 10th through 12th, with Ashley Tyndall (14:47.80), Brighton Glassman (14:54.40) and Josie Riggs (14:54.60) all finishing one after the other.

Morgan Taylor was SUU's seventh finisher, wrapping up the scoring with a 16th overall finish in a time of 15:10.70. Julieta Navarrete-Lamas and Paige Cardiff finished immediately behind her with time of 15:19.90 and 15:21.30 respectively.

As a team the Thunderbirds scored a meet low 34 points, with Utah Valley University behind them in second with 42.

On the men's side the T-Birds blew away the competition, finishing with just 17 points. Big Sky opponent Idaho State finished second with 63 points.

Kasey Knevelbaard once again led the charge for SUU, finishing the 6K course in 18:16.30 and second overall. He was closely followed by Josh Collins (18:16.30) and Matt Wright (18:16.60) who finished second and third for SUU and third and fourth overall.

Separated by just one runner from Utah Valley, another pack of Thunderbirds crossed the line to finish sixth, seventh and eighth in the meet with Aidan Reed (18:38.90), George Espino (18:42.70) and Liam Kennell (18:47.90) all finishing in a tight group.

SUU's scoring was rounded out by Koy Moore, who finished in 10th overall with a time of 18:52.50.

Southern Utah's Mike Tate, who is currently in a redshirt year, ran in the meet unattached and took the top spot in the meet with a time of 18:05.80.

SUU head coach Eric Houle said he was very impressed by the performances on both sides, especially considering they trained hard leading up to the competition.

“You've got to pick certain meets that you've got to work through if you want to be in shape by the end of the year, so that's what this week was,” he said. “This was our fourth speed day in a sense, and so the goal was to run as a pack and not worry so much about the score.”

Houle said it is vitally important for the team to have this home meet every season for the mentality of the team.

“To sleep in their own bed and have their fan base out here along with the rest of the team, both the other distance runners that don't travel and the rest of the track and field team, is huge,” he said.

Next weekend the Thunderbirds will be splitting between two meets, with the men's team headed to the Nuttycombe Wisconsin Invitational and the women's team headed to the Bronco Invitational hosted by Santa Clara.