CEDAR CITY, Utah – The Southern Utah University cross-country program hosted the Color Country Invitational early Saturday morning. Both teams had dominant showings as the men's team took first place overall, and the women's team finished second.
"It's always nice to compete in front of our home crowd and give some of our younger athletes a chance to race in a really good atmosphere, said SUU Head Coach Eric Houle." The course was set up well and everyone here seemed to enjoy it. I'm very pleased with what both teams accomplished today because we are continuing to see where they are in their overall development. It was important to us to allow our younger athletes to feel how it is to be out in front today and they did well. The overall weekend has been very good, we also have a lot of alumni in town for this race which has made everything special."
Southern Utah's men's team recorded 23 points, beating out Utah Valley and Utah Tech. Sophomore Max Jones led a Thunderbird lineup that was full of underclassmen. Jones stayed out in front of the lead pack for the majority of the race and breezed to a first-place finish with a time of 18:50.20. Hot on his heels was fellow sophomore Coleman Cragun, who out legged a Utah Tech runner down the final stretch of the course to take second place with an 18:59.23.
Nathan Carlin wasn't too far behind the two leaders as he blazed to a time of 19:15.61 to take fourth place overall, securing the third top-five finish for the Thunderbirds of the day. Lanse Larsen was Southern Utah's fourth finisher inside the top 10 as the Freshman took ninth place with a 19:42.91. Lone senior Payton Riggs closed out the men's scoring, placing 12th overall with a 19:52.82.
On the women's side, the Thunderbirds finished with 32 points behind the No. 19-ranked Utah Valley Wolverines. Southern Utah had four top-10 finishes from three Freshmen and one sophomore. Freshman Jordyn Bartolomucci battled for first place with a UVU runner throughout the race before barely being edged out by just seconds placing her second overall with a time of 14:33.69. Katy Kelly and Addison Dalton both had phenomenal showings. Kelly ran to a blistering time of 14:52.37 to take fourth place, while Dalton took sixth place with a 15:04.17.
Sophomore Quinn Hagerman and Junior Gentry Pierce closed out the Thunderbirds lineup. Hagerman finished in ninth place with a time of 15:10.85, and Pierce secured a spot in 11th with a 15:12.78.
NEXT UP
Southern Utah Cross Country will now prepare for Pre Nationals next weekend on Friday, October 14th on the campus of Oklahoma State University.
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