Murray State men’s and women’s cross country teams kicked off their seasons this weekend, traveling to Carbondale, Illinois, for the Salukis Early Bird Invitational.

The men finished third out of five, behind Southern Illinois and just four points behind Southeast Missouri, but still bested SIU Edwardsville and Austin Peay.

The women finished second in their meet — only Southeast Missouri accumulated more points. The Racers beat SIU, SIUE and Austin Peay.

“Both the men and women were racing the 5K, which is the usual distance for the women, but the men usually run an eight,” said primary distance coach Jordan Wallace. It was exciting for the guys to keep the distance a little bit short and get their feet wet in preparation for our first 8K in two weeks.

Senior Vince Turner was the top finisher for the men, ending up in fourth place. Junior Zach Balleau came in second for the team, finishing in ninth place while sophomore Caleb Kawasaki finished in 17th. Rounding out the meet for the Racers was sophomore Meyer Makemson and junior Zan McClelland finishing 21st and 23rd.

On the women’s side, two seniors finished in the top two spots, but three freshman pleasantly surprised Wallace by taking the final three scoring positions.

“Three of our freshmen were in the top five, which is really great being able to have a younger team,” Coach Wallace said. “Overall I think everyone competed really well.”

Team captain Rebekah Priddy led the way for the Racers, finishing in seventh place, 15 seconds behind the winner. Senior Ida Mutai finished 15th and was one spot in front of freshman Morgan Vosler, who jumped up from the team’s fifth position to finish third. Fellow freshman Dani Wright and Emma Creviston finished 19th and 20th to round out the scoring for the Racers.

Murray State’s next meet will be Saturday, September 15 when they travel to Evansville, Indiana, to compete at the Stegemoller Classic, hosted by Southern Indiana.