Cedar City, Utah - The Southern Utah University cross country team races at home for the first time this season at the Color Country Invitational on Saturday, Oct. 3. This is its third race of the season following the University of California, Riverside Invite and the Utah Valley University Invitational.
Head Coach Isaac Wood said,
"This meet is an opportunity for us to use it for a workout for the men and give us a greater glimpse into the fitness of our women's team and make decisions for what to do for the next few meets. We love hosting at home and are excited to show off our beautiful fall colors to our guests."
Color Country Invitational
What: The Color Country Invitational hosted by SUU
When: Saturday with the men's 7K at 10:00 a.m. and the women's 5K at 10:45 a.m.
Where: Cedar Ridge Golf Course, Cedar City, UT.
Who: UVU, Snow College, Utah Tech University, and Fort Lewis College.
Surveying the Field
UVU hosted two home races to begin the season: the UVU Invitational and the UVU Invite. The Wolverines finished with two second-place finishes at the Invitational and two at the Invite. They then headed to the John McNichols Invitational hosted by Indiana State University, where the Wolverines took an eighth-place finish on the men's and an 11th-place finish on the women's side.
Snow College raced alongside the Thunderbirds at both the UVU Invitational and the UCR Invitational, with its men's team finishing fourth and ninth, respectively. The Badgers women's team finished sixth and third.
Utah Tech raced in two meets, the Northern Arizona University George Kyte Classic, where its men's team took a second-place finish, followed by its women's team finishing third. The Trailblazers then raced in the UCR Invite alongside SUU, with their men clocking a fifth-place finish and the women a 15th-place finish.
Fort Lewis College has one race under its belt heading into the Color Country Invitational at the Texas Tech Open, where both teams took third place.
Last Time Out
The Thunderbirds raced at the UCR Invitational, where they struck gold, with the men's teams winning both the invitational and the open races. The women's team also claimed a fourth-place finish out of a field of 30.
Senior Logan Peel led the men in the invitational with an eighth-place finishin 23:41.9. Parker Barnes followed Peel with a ninth-place finish in 23:52.0. Three other Thunderbirds finished inside the top 25 for a combined team score of 49.
Freshman Dax Daley led the men in the open field by winning individual honors crossing the line first with a time of 24:14.0. Five other Thunderbirds finished with top 10 finishes: Chase Evans in fifth (24:35.4), Daniel Martinez in sixth (24:50.2), Seth Sonerholm in seventh (24:55.9), Oliver James in eighth (25:05.6), and Samuel Lanham in 10th (25:13.0). All SUU racers in the open combined for a team score 27.
Bella Evans led the women's team with a sixth-place finish of 20:31.4. Aspen Hacker followed closely behind with a time of 20:51.1 for 29th. Audrey Hales crossed the line for SUU with a 21:04.8 for 39th and the final SUU runner to finish in the top 50. The Thunderbirds finished with a team score of 198.
Up Next
SUU will hit the road again as it heads up to Eugene, Ore., for the Bill Dellinger Invite hosted by the University of Oregon, Oct. 9. It will be the Thunderbirds' second-to-last race before the Big Sky Championships Oct. 30.
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