The UA men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in the NCAA Pre-Nationals meet on Saturday in Terre Haute, Ind., a meet that will be very important for the remainder of the season.

The women’s team finished in 15th place out of 41 teams, while the men had a less satisfying result of a 36th-place showing.

Senior Dylan Fitzpatrick was the only Wildcat on the men’s team to finish in the top 100, as he crossed the line in 96th place with a time of 24:54.20 in the 8,000-meter race.

Senior Irine Lagat continued to prove why she is one of the top runners for the Arizona women’s team, as she was the first Wildcat to cross the finish line. She finished the 6,000m race with a time of 21:12.40, which was good for 38th place individually.

Freshman Hannah Moen finished in 68th place with a time of 21:28.30. Sophomore Maggie Callahan (87th, 21:71.70), senior Shelly Splittberger (121st, 22:06.40) and junior Christina Rodgers (132nd, 22:16.30) rounded out the scoring for the Wildcats.

Splittberger said she was very proud of her team’s performance and added that the squad has a bright future ahead of it.

“”We were really happy with the race, so it should have a huge effect on the remainder of the season,”” Splittberger said. “”The top 30 teams go to nationals and we finished 15th, so that’s definitely a big confidence booster.””

One thing Splittberger noted as being very important to the team’s success is running as a pack – keeping the gap between the first and last runner on the team relatively close.

The final female runner in the Wildcats’ pack was senior Mackenzie Edwards, who had one of her best races of the season. She finished with a time of 22:22.90 which was good for 157th place.

“”Our seventh girl was a lot faster than the seventh girl on the majority of other teams, which is definitely a good thing,”” she said. “”We just run really well as a team.””