LOGAN, Utah - The Thunderbird cross country teams continued their strong opening weekend at the Sagebrush Invitational with the men's team finishing in first place and the women's team finishing in third place.
The event was ran at Steve & Dona Reeder XC Course, which will also be the site of the NCAA Mountain Regional Championship.
The men's squad entered the race as the No. 26 team in the country.
On the men's side not only did the team finish first, but SUU's Kasey Knevelbaard finished in first place with a 20:56.18 on the 7K course.
“It was tons of fun, it was a really good race for us,” Knevelbaard said. “Having all our guys up front and getting used to racing was good, and with it being the first time putting on the uniform this year, it was exciting.”
SUU's second finisher was Josh Collins, who finished in 21:02.85. SUU's next two came in fifth and sixth place respectively, with Matt Wright finishing in 21:11.61 and Aidan Reed finishing in 21:14.10.
Rounding out SUU's scoring was George Espino, who finished in 11th place with a time of 21:30.36.
The Thunderbirds finished the race 20 points ahead of Boise State, who was ranked No. 16 in the National Preseason Poll. Utah State finished in third, Utah Valley finished in fourth and Westminster finished in fifth.
SUU head coach Eric Houle said with the quality of teams at the meet on Saturday, he was extremely pleased with what he saw from the men's team.
“That was exactly what I wanted to see,” he said. “To see that out of them means that if everything holds true, we could be among the best in the country.”
On the women's side, the Thunderbirds were led by Angie Nickerson, who finished in fourth by completing the 5K in 17:44.52. SUU's second finisher was Sharlie Dimick, who completed the course in 18:06.75.
“It felt really, really good,” Nickerson said about the meet. “I feel like our team is so much stronger than we were last year and we have really good things coming.”
Freshman Julia Mahlke was SUU's third finisher, with a time of 18:21.31, which put her in 12th place individually. Brighton Glassman finished the course in 18:45.44, Julieta Navarrette-Lamas finished in in 18:46.77 and Ashley Tyndall finished in 19:08.68.
In the final team rankings the T-Birds found themselves in third place, ahead of The University of Utah and Utah Valley University.
Houle said he is excited to see what this women's group will be able to accomplish as the season rolls along.
“We've got girls that are not afraid to run with the best, and when you're not afraid to run with the best, you become the best,” he said.
For all things SUU cross country and track and field, follow @SUUTrackandxc on Twitter and Instagram and like the Southern Utah Track and XC page on Facebook.
