(Cuba City, WI) - Waubonsee Community College's Cross Country teams ventured north of the border to take part in the University of Wisconsin-Platteville's Pioneer Gender Equity Invitational on a perfect Saturday afternoon for running. With temperatures in the low 60's, Coach Eric Baron's men's squad continued to show improvement as they tallied a team score of 179 and finished seventh overall. Freshman Logan Cunz again led the way coming across the finsih line in a time of 28:37 placing 26th. Jacob Weissensel covered the 8K course laid out at Cole Acres Golf Course in a time of 30:07 to place 32nd. Huitzi Del Real came in 39th, with Dominic Fiedler right behind him in 40th position, and Owen Kroeyr placed 42nd to round out the Chiefs scoring. The Chiefs other four competitors all finished one right after the other as Nicholas Escamilla finished 44th, Nathaniel Lundquist was 45th, Clayton Burnette came in 46th and Joshua Branstad ended up 47th. The host school UW-Platteville took the team title with a score of 21 points, besting second-place Ripon (WI) College's 41 points. The Pioneers' Logan Bell won the race in a time of 26:25, holding off his teammate Troy Humpal by four seconds.

Waubonsee's women had three runners participate and did not qualify for the team scoring. But the trio Chiefs' all had big days. Marina Mercado finished 37th overall while trimming two minutes and fifty seconds off her previous 5K race time, finishing with a time of 27:26. Sophomore Payton Heiden placed 64th while cutting three minutes and forty-seven seconds off her previous race time. And Abbigail Placido competed in her first collegiate race finishing 71st overall. Ripon's aptly named Mikayla Flyte nearly flew around the course to win the women's race in a time of 23:25, beating teammate Ali Denamur to the finish line by four seconds. Ripon narrowly won the women's title, edging Viterbo (WI) University by four points 41 to 45.  

The Chiefs are set to run again next weekend, Saturday, October 1, at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside's Ranger Open in Kenosha, Wisconsin. The women's race is set to begin at 10:00 a.m. with the men's race to follow at 10:45 a.m. on the Dannehl Cross Country Course just west of the UW-Parkside campus.