Slippery Rock University’s men’s and women’s cross country teams placed third and fourth this past Saturday at Edinboro University in the Doug Watts Invitational, an event which marks the start of the season.
The Rock men’s team placed third as they scored 82 points, behind Gannon who had 70 points and Edinboro who had 29 points. For the women’s team, they took home fourth with 95 points. Seton Hill placed first with 33 points, Mercyhurst in second with 81 points and Edinboro in third with 91 points.
In the 8,000-meter, redshirt junior John Marenkovic placed 13th after finishing in 27:13, leading the men. Senior Jill Norris placed 11th overall in the 6,000-meter in 24:24.
Following Marenkovic was sophomore Benjamin Buckless who finished in 27:44 to take 17th place. Senior Trenton Yoder and freshman Ethan Brentham placed behind Buckless as they placed 18th and 19th, respectively.
Senior Daniel Janyska and junior Tim Ferguson just missed out of the top five for SRU. Janyska finished a single millisecond behind sophomore Noah Yake with a time of 28:28, and Ferguson was only a few milliseconds behind at 28:32.
Behind Norris was sophomore Lexie Firment, who captured 12th in 24:31. Junior Juliet Ryan followed behind as she finished in 24:48 to take 16th place. Sophomore Shelby Gluth and senior Emily Johnson finished 27th and 29th to finish out the top 30.
Sophomore Julianna Stevens and senior Katie Proffitt finished 31st and 37th with times of 25:30 and 25:48, respectively, to finish sixth and seventh for SRU.
SRU has the week to prepare before their next meet on Sept. 21 at Lock Haven University.
The Rock will not return to SRU for a home meet until the Bill Lennox Invitational at the Lawrence Country Fairground XC Course on Oct. 12.
