By: Paul Fritschner ~Guest Writer~

Xavier’s men’s and women’s cross country teams started down the long road on Sept. 5 as they competed in the 31st annual Queen City Invitational. The event, hosted this year by the Musketeers, took place in nearby Mason, Ohio, at Kingswood Park.

Freshman Caroline Gosser christened her Xavier career by taking first place on the women’s side with a time of 21:53 in the 6k race, about 15 seconds ahead of her closest competitor. Behind Gosser, in third place, was sophomore Allison Sinning who finished in 22:09.

Elsewhere in the top-10 for the Musketeers was senior Sarah Mazzei and redshirt freshman Gina Genco, placing fourth and seventh respectively. The women’s team ran away from the rest of the field. Team scoring is compiled by adding the top five finishers for each team. Similar to golf, a team aims to have the lowest score.

Aided by seven top 50 finishes, the women took first place overall with a score of 39 points. This total was 37 points better than Indianapolis, the second place team that finished with 76. Cincinnati ran their way into third place with a total of 88 points.

On the men’s side, the Musketeers also held their own and placed in the top five as a team. Their highest finisher was freshman Charlie Korodi, who crossed the finish line in 14th place in 19:02. Right behind Korodi was sophomore Garrett Knapik in 15th and freshman Grayson Jenkins in 17th to cap a strong performance with three Xavier runners in the top 20. The men finished with a total of 100 points.

Cross country will look to build off of the Invitational and use it as momentum for the rest of its season. The next meet for the Musketeers will be the National Catholic Invitational on Sept. 18 in South Bend, Ind.