Cross Country Team Off to a Hot Start
Both the Men and Women’s Cross Country teams have competed in two tournaments now, and both times have seen success. Starting with the men, at their first meet at the University of Saint Francis, they placed 4 out of ten teams competing at the event.
These teams include: Saint Francis IL, University of Chicago, Trinity Christian, Purdue Calumet, Benedictine, Calumet-St Joseph, Wabaunsee, IU South Bend, Prairie State, and Saint Xavier.
Leading the way for the team was senior Janis Pastars. Pastars finished the 5K Race with a time of 16:14.6, a time good enough to place him 13 overall out of 350 total racers. Also leading the team with his performance was junior Alan Guzman who had a time of 16:24.8.
This score placed Guzman in 31 place. Overall, the men’s cross country team combined for a score of 181 team points. Continuing on to the first tournament for the women’s cross country team, they experienced equal amount of success.
Hosted by Nazarene University, the tournament consisted of eight of the following teams: Olivet Nazarene University, Saint Ambrose University, Purdue North Central, Danville Area Community College, Moraine Valley Community College, Trinity National University, Greenville College, and Saint Xavier University.
Out of these eight teams, the women’s cross country team placed third. Leading the way for the women was sophomore Ellie Willging, who finished the 5K with a time of 18:34.47. This time nearly landed her in first place, but Willging instead finished in second place out of 98 total runners.
Finishing right after her was junior Nicole Maier, who ran the 5K in 19:54.49. This time landed her in the eighth place. Overall, the team scored 64 points which is a very respectable score for the women’s first outing.
Moving on to the next tournament hosted by Notre Dame, the women continued to assert their dominance as they placed 6th out of 25 other teams. These teams included: Notre Dame, Lewis University, Marquette University, Loyola, Saint Louis University, Duquense University, Gannon University, Holy Cross University, Xavier University, and Saint Xavier University just to name a few.
Sophomore Ellie Willging continued to lead the Cougars as she finished the race with a time of 18:08.3. This was an impressive performance by Willging, as she placed 13th out of 299 total runners.
Once again, not far behind was junior Nicole Maier finishing with a time 19:18.3. This time placed Maier in 87th place, which is still a respectable finish when running with 299 other people. The efforts of these two girls, and the whole team for that matter, were enough to give them a team score of 252 points.
Overall, the girls are off to an exceptional start and will only get better as the cross country season continues on with the next tournament hosted by Bethel College on October 9. Back to the men, they also performed amazingly at the Notre Dame invite as they placed 6th out of 23 total teams.
Junior Alan Guzman continued to lead the men as he placed 64 in the 8K Race. Guzman impressively finished with a time of 26:26.8. Not too far behind him was junior Abel Hernandez who finished with a time of 26:37.7.
This time placed Hernandez in 70 place out of 276 other runners. Considering the size and amount of people participating in the race, this is an outstanding finish by the two leading men off of the men’s team, and an incredible finish by the men overall who finished with 240 team points.
As the season continues for the men’s Cross Country team, we as fans can only expect them to keep up their consistency, and continue to do Saint Xavier proud. Let’s hope for the best as they look to compete in the tournament hosted by Bethel College on October 9.
Kenneth Washington
Deputy Sports Editor
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