Sep. 25—LARAMIE — The University of Wyoming cross-country teams returned to action on Friday when they competed against a competitive field at the Roy Griak Invitational in St. Paul, Minnesota.
The Cowboys and Cowgirls turned in top-10 finishes in their respective 21-team fields.
The Cowboys had 175 points to earn fifth place and beating out Santa Clara by three points for the top-five spot. No. 3 ranked BYU won the men’s race with 34 points and Iowa State finished one point behind them in second.
The Cowgirls tallied 251 points for ninth place, 102 points ahead of 10-place South Dakota State. Host Minnesota won the women’s race with 51 points and Iowa State finished second with 81 points.
“Both teams ran well (Friday), they worked together and competed tough,” UW cross-country coach Scott Dahlberg said in a press release. “They put themselves in good positions early on and competed the entire race. We saw good improvements from the last race and are encouraged about the next one.”
Oisin O’Gailin led the Cowboys by clocking a time of 25 minutes, 5.5 seconds to finish 19th. Seth Bruxvoort was next behind O’Gailin in 25:11.6 to finish 25th. Gus McIntyre finished in 36th in 25:23.9. Mason Norman and Jerald Taylor rounded out the top five runners for the Cowboys finishing 49th and 57th, respectively.
For the Cowgirls, Katelyn Mitchem who turned in the team’s best performance at 21:51.7 to finish 26th. Libby McGrath was the second highest Cowgirl finisher at 45th in 22:19.4. Kylie Simshauser crossed the line in 54th place at 22:26.8. Rounding out the top five for the Cowgirls were Addi Iken and Abigail Whitmam who finished 68th and 71st, respectively.
Up next for the cross-country squads will be the Pre-Nationals hosted by Florida State Oct. 15 in Tallahassee, Florida.
VOLLEYBALL
The Cowgirls volleyball team opened Mountain West conference play with a loss for the first time since 2014 as UW fell in five sets Thursday night to visiting Utah State.
After opening the match with a hard-fought 25-23 win, the Cowgirls (8-5 overall, 0-1 MW) lost a marathon second set 33-31 as Utah State (9-4, 1-0 MW) evened the match.
Using the momentum of taking set two, the Aggies took control with a 25-14 win in set three before the Cowgirls rebounded in the fourth, 25-22. USU controlled much of the fifth set, which ended 15-11 as it closed on a 5-2 run.
KC McMahon led offensively for the Cowgirls with 17 kills. McMahon added eight digs and along with Erika Jones, led the team with a pair of service aces. Faith Waitsman recorded her first career double-double by notching 12 kills and 13 assists to go with five block assists.
Naya Shimé and Jackie McBride added 11 and 10 kills, respectively. McBride tallied a team-best seven blocks. As a team, the Cowgirls out-blocked Utah State, 16-13 and also had a 6-3 edge in service aces. However, the Aggies hit .204 for the match, while the Cowgirls hit .107.
In the back row, Jones led the Cowgirls with 22 digs from the libero position. Kaitlyn Gehler was also in double figures for digs with 10 and Payton Chamberlain recorded her first ever double-double with 11 digs and a career-best 48 assists.
The Cowgirls have a quick turnaround to host Boise State at 1 p.m. today in the UniWyo Sports Complex.
GOLF
The UW athletics department announced Thursday the women’s golf team will not play in the Golfweek Red Sky Classic scheduled for Monday-Wednesday in Vail, Colorado because of COVID-related concerns within the Cowgirls golf team.