The cross country team's regular season has come to a close with much to look forward to in the upcoming championship season. Every member of the men's and women's team who competed this past Friday at the Topper Town Invite, ran a season best performance. This is a sign that despite the many ups and downs that take place throughout a cross country season, this Cougars team appears to be hitting their stride at the right time. Leading the way is Ryan Pendergast who has been honored with National Athlete of the Week accolades by the NJCAA and USTFCCCA. Ryan's 27:11 mark was the 2^nd fastest 8k performance in the NJCAA DIII this year. Following up Ryan is the team's chase pack including Logan Ray who just ran a season best 8k time by 34 seconds, Hielke van Oosten who is ranked in the top 25 in the NJCAA DIII, Luke Montani who just ran a lifetime best 8k by 24 seconds, and Jeremiah Branson who recently ran a season best by over 4 minutes to round out the scoring.

Our women's team has shown promise for the coming weeks as well from the likes of Ashley Diaz and Stephanie Cunningham. Ashley's season best of 22:43 from this past weekend ranks her at 8^th in NJCAA DIII of the available results. Last Friday at the Topper Town Invite, Stephanie also had an impressive showing with her 25:57 lifetime. This result is over 2 minutes faster than her previous lifetime best. With things seemingly headed in the right direction, our Cougars are back in action at Region XVI Championships at Mineral Area College on Friday, October 30^th. Following Regional Championships, the team will be travelling to Fort Dodge, IA for NJCAA DIII National Championships. National Championships will take place at noon on Saturday, November 14^th. We are looking forward to finishing out the season on a high note and making our supporters proud!