RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The Southern Utah University men's and women's cross country teams locked in an impressive outing at the UC Riverside Invitational, with the women finishing sixth in a field of 25 teams and the men finishing fourth in a 26-team field. In addition to the invite results, the Thunderbirds' depth also earned them first place in the men's open.

Coach Eric Houle said:

"We had solid performances in the invite races today, both on the men's and women's sides. This looks very promising for the conference championships later on in the season. Bowen Martin and Adie Stratton looked solid in the open races with the crew of teammates close behind."

Women's Recap

Southern Utah performed well in the 6K women's invite, finishing sixth with 259 points and narrowly defeating the University of Nevada, Reno by three points.

Senior Madisan DeBos led the Thunderbirds once again, this time with an 11th-place finish and a time of 20:17.4. Jordyn Bartolomucci and Bella Evans arrived next for SUU, placing 35th and 42nd with times of 20:46.7 and 20:53.7 respectively. 

The underclassmen dominated the rest of the standings for Southern Utah, with sophomore Makayla Pitcher's 21:32.1 earning her 88th place and Aldana Navarrete-Lamas's 21:38.4 taking 97th to round out the team's score. Two more freshmen, Audrey Hales with a 21:40.5 and Lia Selander with a 21:56.2, slotted into the sixth and seventh spots for the team.

While the women didn't have enough racers to compete as a team in the 5K open, sophomore Adie Stratton represented as an individual, finishing 16th with an 18:11.0.

Men's Recap

In the 8K men's invite, a score of 154 propelled the Thunderbirds to fourth place, ahead of local teams like Biola University and the hosting UC Riverside.

Heading up the team, sophomore Jacob Peterson posted a time of 23:55.0 for 20th place. Close behind, in 31st and 34th place, Hayden Harward and Santiago Gaitan finished with times of 24:04.3 and 24:05.3 respectively. Lanse Larsen's 24:10.9 secured 40th place barely before teammate Coleman Cragun crossed the line at 24:11.0 for 41st.

Rounding out SUU's finishers, Logan Peele earned 43rd place with a 24:11.7, and Garrison Shindler took 81st with a 24:36.3.

Even with their top performers in the invite, Southern Utah took home a first-place win in the 8K men's open. Bowen Martin led the way, finishing third with a time of 24:39.4.

Up Next

Southern Utah will return home to host the Color Country Invitational on Friday, Oct. 4th in Cedar City, Utah.

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