MONMOUTH, Oreg. -  The Saint Martin's cross country teams returned home on a good note after their first meet in Monmouth, Oregon this weekend.

SMU made first stride at a great season by placing overall fourth in men's 6k and second overall in women's 5k.

After the successful meet, Coach Matt Lowe shared his excitement stating "It was a great outcome for an opener to kicking off the season. We went in focusing on getting back into the groove of racing cross country again after so many months. Although after a tough training block, I knew that we weren't going in feeling the best. It's still exciting to see the progress made from the summer, and how much we're capable of achieving this season." 

The women's team placed second overall, with a team average of 19:12 with a spread of 2:26. The women's 5k runners included Cassidy Walchak-Sloan with a time of 17:57.7 placing third. Following was Alisha Saucedo her time being 18:28.3 placing nineth. The next two Saints to finish were Elke Wijkmans (18:38.1), Sara Sabra (19:24.0). Kya Ramirez (19:59.6) and Naomi Hartley (20:44.6) were the next finishers for SMU.  

In the men's race the team placed overall fourth with top sevens average time being 19:21 with a spread of 2:02. SMU's first finisher of the 6k was Isaac Cortes placing eighth with a time of 18:16.6. our next finisher was Kainalu Pagente with a time of 18:24.5 placing tenth. Eli Dale (19:13.7) and Jaydon Blackburn (19:35.6) coming in collected two more of the Saints finishers. Following was the next two Saints, Michael Harwelll (19:45.7) and Jaskaran Dhatt (19:53.6). Finally, Timmy Higgins (20:19.1) Noe Ortega (21:57.8) pulled in the rest of the SMU team.  

The Saints will take some time to prepare for their next meet the Bill Roe Invite on September 23, 2023 at Bellingham, WA.