DENVER – The Regis University men's and women's cross country teams took to the course at Washington Park for the 10th Annual Roadrunner Invitational, hosted by the Metropolitan State University of Denver, where the men placed sixth and the women ran strong during a beautiful, sunny Saturday.
 
"This is our home meet at Wash Park so we come here excited," said coach John Esquibel. "Our kids have always ran well at Wash Park … I was real pleased with everyone. We measure sometime on P.R.'s, but today we measured on effort, and the effort from all four on the girls' side, we were excellent. 
 
"On the guys' side, our pack for [the] top three is really good. Drew [McNamee] coming in as our fourth, and Emilio [Tovilla] our fifth. Just an all-around effort was there, pace was good, and a little more competitive."
 
Sophomore Bryan Martinez topped the Rangers scorecard with his team-leading time of 27 minutes, 50.2 seconds in the 8-kilometer men's race, which was good enough for 45th overall.
 
Freshman George Kaftan was just 12 seconds behind Martinez in 48th with his finishing time of 28:02.2.
 
Senior Vincent Frazier took third among the Regis men, clocking in at 28:49.5, while finishing 59th overall.
 
Sophomore Andrew McNamee earned an 82nd-place result en route to his time of 29:55.2.
 
Not far behind was senior Emilio Tovilla (29:59.8) in 84th to cap off the team scoring for RU.
 
Graduate Scott Kordziel (35:19.8) also put in a hard-fought performance for the Rangers, settling for 109th overall.
 
The Regis women were led by junior Sarah Smagacz, who took 30th while recording a time of 24:53.3 in the 6k race. 
 
Freshman Lily Saddoris followed Smagacz in 52nd and crossed the finish line at 26:10.4.
 
Senior Samantha Holland contributed a 59th-place finish and registered a finishing time at the 26:38.0 mark.
 
Mckenna Uhing (30:23.7) came in 75th place overall and fourth among women for RU.
 
The Rangers on the women's side didn't register a team score since they were one competitor shy of the minimum five necessary for such a mark. Two of their top runners were given the week off to recover.
 
Freshman Zouhair Talbi (24:42.4) of Northwest Kansas Technical College won the men's race.
 
Host MSU Denver finished first with a team score of 37 points, claiming three of the top-five finishes. 
 
For the women's race, unattached runner Amelia Mazza-Downie beat all competitors with her time of 21:16.7.
 
CSU-Pueblo (31) took the women's team trophy and placed the next three individual finishes after Mazza-Downie. 
 
Regis will next compete on Saturday at the UC-Colorado Springs XC Open, held at Monument Valley Park North in Colorado Springs, Colo.
 
With just a week between meets, Esquibel will need to get his team adapted to a different landscape than the one experienced at Wash Park.
 
"We're going back to Colorado Springs," Esquibel said. "Our first meet in Colorado Springs, they didn't have the hills so there's a little hill that you go up and down. So, we'll prepare a little hills on this week. Our goal is everyone on the girls' side will be running so we're hoping to get similar performers like we did today. 
 
"But with this weather being perfect and the competition, extra teams, and people in our caliber, that's what we look for in cross country. When we go to Colorado Springs next week, [there will be] fewer teams, better competition. So, we're kind of spread out and running alone, but the most important part that we need to get out of this season is to be more competitive, and I think we get that today."
 
For the men's race results, click here.
 
For the women's race results, click here.