Both the men’s and women’s cross country teams participated in the Roy Griak Cross Country Invitational in Minneapolis  Saturday, placing 11th and 14th respectively out of the 32-team field.

The next event both teams will compete in is the Wisconsin Lutheran Invitational in West Allis at Greenfield Park Saturday.

Senior Joe Dixon and fifth-year senior Mathias Werve led the men’s team and both recorded season best times of 26:23 while finishing 26th and 27th in a field of 331 runners.

The women’s team was led by junior Alyssa Duncan who also recorded a season best time of 24:12 in the 6K event and placed 44th out of 380 runners.

Head coach Jeff Miller was very proud of Werve for finishing with a seasons best time, despite getting tripped up early in the race.

“I think Mathias ran really well this week even with him falling during the race,” Miller  said.  “It kind of took some wind out of his sails but he still finished strong.”

Miller also added that while the team may not have placed as highly as they wanted to or expected to, there were some things he saw during the event that the team can build on for future races.

Miller said he was impressed in Duncan for leading the women’s team at the event.

“Our top five runners on both the men’s and women’s teams ran solid,” Miller said. “We just would have liked to finish higher in the rankings as a team and I know some individuals felt they should have finished higher as well.”

While Dixon, Werve and Duncan finished with their own season best times, other runners for the Warhawks stepped up and had a great event as well.

“Chris Kautza was probably one of our top runners,” Werve said. “He ran a very good race and has improved throughout the start of the season.”

Werve also said that though the team may have come up short of their goals and expectations for the event, there are always things to work on as the season progresses.

“I believe as a team we did pretty well for the most part,” Werve said. “But it’s still early in the season and we are eventually going to get there and be strong and do even better as a team down the road.”