The men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the Hamilton College Short Course Invitational on Sept. 10 in Clinton, New York to kick start the 2016 regular season. The women’s team finished in first place with 30 points in the 4k course and the men’s team came in fourth place with 88 points in the 5K course.

SUNY Oneonta’s women’s team also finished with 30 points on the day, but concluded with a slower team average time of 15:18.7. The Bombers won the tiebreaker with their team average time of 15:08.5.

The men’s team was beat out by SUNY Oneonta, who dominated by scoring 25 points, as well as SUNY Delhi and Hamilton College.

Four of the women’s team’s top five runners finished in the top ten, including junior Taryn Cordani earned first place as an individual with her time of 14:11.2. Junior Denise Ibarra finished in second with her time of 14:53.4.

Graduate student Michaela Cioffredi crossed the finish line in seventh place with her time of 15:25.8. Sophomore Emilie Mertz was the fourth and final runner to crack the top ten with her time of 15:34.5, which was good for ninth place.

Freshman Annika Morrison was the last scorer for the Blue and Gold. She finished in 11th place with her time of 15:37.6.

For the men’s squad, senior Sean Phillips topped the field with his time of 15:31.7. He would be the only runner on the team to finish in the top ten.

The South Hill squad’s next highest placing runner was senior Chris Gutierrez, who finished in 17th place with his time of 16:21.5.

Freshmen Chris Tinti and Jeff Montgomery, along with sophomore Daniel Hart, rounded out the scoring for the Bombers by finishing in 22nd, 23rd and 25th place, respectively.

Both teams will be back in action Sept. 17 for the U of R Yellowjacket Invite hosted by the University of Rochester in Rochester, New York.