Both the men's and women's Cross Country teams for CCU were in action for the second meet of the season as they competed in the 12^th Annual Roadrunners Invitational on Saturday September 17^th. The race took place in Washington Park in Denver on a beautiful Colorado morning as both teams were looking to build momentum as they move further into the season.
 
Men's Highlights:             The men's 8K was the first race of the day as they began at 9AM in what turned out to be a very fast paced race. The previous record for the event was a time of 24:42 run by Zouhair Talbi from Northwest Kansas Tech in 2019. The top 19 runners on the day all ran a time better than the previous record for the event.
 
The Cougars were led on the day by sophomore Brendan Oury who finished with a time of 24:57.70. Coming in behind Oury was Tate Fletcher and Ethan Wampler. Fletcher, a freshman from Columbia, MO, finished with a time of 25:39.30, while Wampler, also a freshman from Columbia, MO, finished right behind his teammate with a time of 25:49.80. Noah Burroughs (26:00.10) and Kale Edmonds (26:54.40) rounded out the top five for the Cougars men's team. Colorado School of Mines was crowned the champions as a team, as they had five runners who placed in the top 10 for the event.
 
Women's Highlights:   The women's race was also a very fast paced event, and even though a new course record was not set, it was certainly challenged. Colorado School of Mines showed their talents on the course as they swept the podium placements earning the top three times in the race, and finished with five of the top six spots to "run" away with the team title.
 
CCU was led by senior Elisa Hernandez who finished with a time of 24:40.30. She was followed closely by her teammate, sophomore Alayna Wallace who was just a few seconds behind with a time of 24:44.30. the freshman from Peoria, AZ Nora Thompson placed third on the team with a time of 25:22.50. Rounding out the top five for the team was Beth Pierantoni (25:40.20) and Reagan Boling (25:50.40).
 
Head coach Jon Poag talked about his team and their performances after the race as he said, "Every season we try to identify one or two races that allow us to focus on different aspects of our roster. This morning we raced a lot of our younger athletes, a few upperclassmen sprinkled in, but for the most part it was good opportunity to focus on the future of the team. We saw a lot of encouraging performances out of both of our groups today, looking forward to seeing how this group continues to improve over the course of the season."
 
Both teams will now set their sights on their next race which will take place on Saturday October 8^th as they will both compete at the Lewis Crossover Cross Country Race. This will be hosted by Lewis University in Romeoville, IL.