The Arizona men and women’s cross country teams struggled on Friday against a loaded field at the Wisconsin Adidas Invitational.
Facing a host of ranked schools, both the men and women finished in 32nd place. There were 38 teams competing on the men’s side and 40 on the women’s side.
“We have a lot of work to do,” UA cross country head coach James Li said in a press release. “I believe our guys and girls are better than that. But it doesn’t do us any good if we don’t get it done in competitions like this.”
Senior Sam Macaluso led the men with a time of 24:35 in the 8,000-meter race, good enough for 94th place. Senior Kenji Bierig was next to cross the finish line with a time of 24:51, and sophomore Collins Kibet placed a second behind him at 24:52.
Freshmen Bailey Roth and Patrick Leary rounded out the Wildcats’ scorers.
The men tallied 760 points. Syracuse won the race in a landslide with 86 points, while Iona came in second with 154.
On the women’s side, senior Kristina Aubert was once again Arizona’s top finisher, this time coming in 65th place with a 20:49 time in the 6,000-meter race.
The next Wildcat to finish was senior Stephanie Bulder, who came in 146th place with a time of 21:38. Senior Amanda Russell finished right behind Bulder, also with a 21:38 time.
Junior Molly Callahan finished eight seconds later, and senior Kate Penney rounded out the Arizona scorers with a time of 22:10.
The women finished with 710 points. Michigan State won the race with 87 points, and Arkansas placed second with 191.
“We’re just not getting it done, and we have to do a better job,” Li said in a press release. “It was not a good race, and it seemed like we were running scared.”
The Adidas Invitational also featured a “B” race on both the men and women’s sides.
For the men, freshman Michael Godbout placed 72nd overall, while junior Dylan Hopper came in 76th. In the women’s “B” race, freshman Claire Green took 28th place, while junior Daylee Burr finished 67th overall.
Arizona gets right back into the action this week when it travels to Tempe to compete in the ASU Invitational on Thursday.
The invitational is the last meet of the regular season, and the Wildcats will need a good showing in order to help solidify spots at the NCAA Championships next month.
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