POCATELLO, Idaho - The Thunderbird cross country teams kicked off their 2016 season on Friday morning at Idaho State's Centennial Cross Country Course with team victories for both the women's team and the men's team.
The morning started with SUU's women taking first as a team by placing all five of their competitors in the top 10.
Josie Riggs led the way for SUU, with a time of 10:54.41 on the 3K course. Riggs was the lone upperclassman in the group, as everyone else that raced for SUU on Friday on the women's side was a freshman.
“We have a young team and I'm excited to see how we do this year,” she said. “It will be a great season.”
Emma Amundsen finished in sixth with a time of 11:09.22 and Morgan Taylor was right behind her with a 11:14.37.
In ninth place overall and fourth for the Thunderbirds was KaSandra Nordgren, who finished in 11:20.45. And rounding out the scoring for SUU was Maddy Kauffman, who finished the course in 11:26.02.
SUU head coach Eric Houle said looking at indicators from previous seasons, the women's squad is on pace to have a big year.
“We're a team now that's on the move,” he said. “We'll see how the team does in Logan, but I'm really pleased with the performances today, and to win it is a little icing on the cake.”
In the men's race the T-Birds took the top three spots, led by Liam Kennell who finished the 6K in 19:04.00.
“After a long summer of just training it's always nice to get back and race again, have that feeling of competition,” Kennell said.
Koy Moore finished right behind Liam with a 19:10.00, and he was quickly followed by Brady Olsen who finished with a 19:17.00.
SUU's next four finishers all finished in a line, with Kyle Warrick and Skylar Riggs (19:37.00) tying for ninth and Jason Quinn and Robby Lee (19:50.00) tying for 11th.
Houle said with several of the top guys running on Saturday, Friday was a great indicator of how truly deep the men's team is.
“We'll have a good crop of athletes to choose from to round out the top team,” he said.
When it comes to Idaho State, coach Houle has some deep ties as ISU's head cross country coach, Nate Houle, is his nephew and a former athlete at Southern Utah.
“It's always nice when you get together with family,” he said. “And he's doing a great job. This program has already changed, and I can tell by the performances, so it's good to catch up with him.”
The remainder of the cross country team will be in action on Saturday morning in Logan as they will be competing in the Sagebrush Invitational.
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