Griffins Kick Off Season at Wash. U. Early Bird
St. Louis- On Saturday the cross country team kicked off the season at the Gabby Reuveni Early Bird hosted by Washington University. Senior captain Alyssa Tonner finished 18th overall with a 4K time of 15:53, a 55 second improvement from last year. Claire Becker (So.) had a standout race for the Griffins, improving by a minute and a half from last year, and showing that she put in a good summer of training. "Our women's team definitely has potential. They are focused and doing what they need to do on a daily basis to maximize their season. Today was a good first effort for us," said Coach Kelli Blake.
On the men's side, top returner Justin Horneker faced some early season adversity, getting caught in starting line traffic and falling in the opening meters of the race. He suffered a foot injury that prevented him from finishing the race but he should be back and running again soon. Freshmen Chris Brown made his debut for the Griffins, running with returner Cristian Sellars at the beginning part of the race. "Cristian and Chris have each other to key off of, and I think that will help a lot later in the season. Today our objective was to negative split the race, and instead they both had large positive splits. It was a good learning experience that will prepare them to be patient when we run the first 8K of the season in two weeks."
Coach Blake voiced her thoughts on the first weeks of the season: "Our team dynamic is great; everyone is invested and having fun at the same time. If we can maintain that atmosphere the rest of the season, good things will happen."
The Griffins will stay close to home for their next meet, the SIUE Cross Country Challenge on September 13th.