The men’s and women’s cross country teams have started off their season strong finishing close to the top in their first two invitationals.

The women’s team finished second out of seven at the Fredonia State Invitational and second out of four at the Mansfield University Invitational. The men’s team finished second out of seven as well at Fredonia and third out of four at Mansfield.

“Our last meet at Mansfield went very well. There were great running conditions and the entire team was excited to get going,” said senior Amanda Moore.

“All of the teams were fairly equally matched, so it was an extremely competitive race, which had many different teams pushing each other up until the very end.”

There were runners on both the men’s and women’s teams that ran their personal best times at this invitational.

“We have a lot of new talent coming onto the team. This has given us a new dynamic to the team where we push each other, but still compete against each other,” Moore said.

There are four new freshmen on the women’s team and two freshmen on the men’s team.

The teams have been preparing for their races this season since mid-August, when they started training camp. During the season they run at five different places. These practice courses test various areas of running, including endurance and speed training.

“Coach Mike Fraley has a lot of faith in this team going far and knows our talents, so he has increased the training schedule from past years because he wants us to reach our full potentials,” Moore said.

The Lakers next race will be the University of Notre Dame Invitational at South Bend, IN. This race will have 15 to 30 teams competing.

“As long as we keep pushing, that should be an even better race because this next course is very fast-paced,” Moore said.