The UW-Whitewater women’s and men’s cross country teams ran their home course on Saturday, as they kicked off the season with the Warhawk Invitational.

The meet included a smattering of teams from throughout Wisconsin and Illinois.

The women’s cross country team finished third among the participating schools. UW-Whitewater cross country coach Jeff Miller said the women’s team ran well, and emphasized Alyssa Duncan’s improvement of a full minute from her time at this meet last year.

Duncan, a senior, led the way for the Women’s team with an 8th place finish and a time of 23:37.

Sophomore Amanda Brom finished second for the ’Hawks with a nineteenth place finish and a time of 25:06.

Senior runner Janna Bartels rounded out the ’Hawks top three with a time of 25:06 and 20th place finish.

Freshman  Emily Kahl finished in 21st place with a time of 25:07.         Although Duncan is the team’s clear number one runner, the next four all finished within two seconds of each other.

The men’s cross country team also placed third among the participating schools. For the men’s team, Dawson Miller led the way with a time of 26:23 and third place overall finish.

Junior Kevin Buntman was the second Warhawk to cross the line with a time of 26:50, good for a 10th place finish. Aron Kehoe finished in 13th place with a time of 27:14.

The top Warhawk freshman, Quinn Farley, took 19th place with a time of 27:43.

“It was a pretty successful [meet], but we’re not where we want to be. Our main goal is conference,” said sophomore runner Jonathon LaCount.

The meet was a good first step in the ‘Hawks’ quest for a successful conference season, as runners from each team set their personal course records.

“Pretty good first meet of the year. I set a personal record from last year. The course is one of the hardest in the conference,” said sophomore Dawson Miller.

His performance was vital in the team’s third place finish, which was enough to satisfy his father and coach.

“The men’s team did a great job and ran as a good pack,” Jeff Miller said. “[I] Thought we did a really nice job. This is where I thought we’d be at for the first meet. The men’s team ran pretty well, especially Dawson. Aron Kehoe, our number three runner, also ran pretty well.”