A freshmen and senior duo blazed the trail for the men and women’s cross country teams at the SunBelt Championships last Sunday.

After the dust settled the men finished in eighth place out of nine teams while the women finished 11th out of 11 teams.

Coach Josh Hayman said he felt pleased with the effort his teams showed but expects more can be achieved at regionals.

“We kind of did what we were expected to based on our preseason rankings. We’ re heading to regionals now and ideally we’ll all run our best times,” Hayman said.

Senior Chris Silva led the men for the first time this season with a time of 26.52.0 in the 8k. This earned him a 28th place finish out of 62 competitors.

“I felt really good going into the race and during it. It was a tough course, but I just trusted in God and in my training and tried to do the best I could for my team,” Silva said.

Following behind Silva were freshman Isaac Ndirangua and Elias Keter coming in 34th and 37th place respectively.

On the women’s side freshmen Colby Carey led the way with a time of 21.37.5 in the 5k. She placed 61st out of 77 runners and led the women for the first time.

“I was very impressed with her because of the difficulty of the course,” Hayman said.

The team travels to College Station on Nov. 13 to compete in the NCAA South Central Regionals.