MACON, Ga.- The Ave Maria University cross country teams swept the podiums on Saturday morning, earning the team championships in both the men's and women's events at the MGA Invitational, hosted by Middle Georgia State University. The AMU women had four of the race's top five finishers en route to the team title, while the men did the same while also recording six of the top eight finishes to roll to their second straight team win.

In the women's race, the Gyrenes scored missed a perfect score by just one point, logging 16 points with five of the top six finishers from scoring teams. Brewton-Parker finished second on the women's side with 55 points, while host Middle Georgia State placed third at 67 points. NCAA Division III Wesleyan College finished in fourth with 194 points.

For the second time in her AMU career, Mary Goetz earned an individual title, finishing the 5k course in Macon at 20:20.25. The senior was nearly one minute faster than any other runner in the event, and was more than three minutes faster than the next senior to cross the finish line. The win was Goetz's first trip to the top of the podium since September 8, 2018, when Goetz won the same event as a freshman. 

The other four scorers for the Gyrenes were all freshman, led by runner-up Lily Burke, who followed Goetz with a time of 21:29.76 and was the only runner to complete the course in under 22 minutes. The bronze medalist was Abigail Rall, who completed the Middle Georgia course in 22:05.48. Lucia Zvonar (fifth place at 22:33.90) and Lillian Brodeur (ninth place at 23:41.69) rounded out Ave Maria's victorious team score.

On the men's side, Ave Maria easily claimed the team title with 17 points, just two more than the lowest possible score. The Gyrenes' average time among scoring runners was almost two minutes faster than the other four schools in the field. Morehouse College placed second, 43 points behind the Gyrenes at 60. Brewton-Parker slotted in third, while Georgia Military College and South Georgia College rounded out the field.

Adam Paga was the first Ave Maria runner to claim a men's individual championship since Gabriel Hogan won at Middle Georgia during the 2018 season. The sophomore, who was a Second Team All-Sun Conference selection last fall, completed the 8k course in 28:23.69. Paga's time was the best in the field by about 15 and a half seconds. 

Joseph Perreault and Jackson Pope took the other two spots on the podium, as the sophomore and freshman finished within two tenths of a second of one another. Perreault ran the course in 28:39.10, and Pope did so in 28:39.26. Thomas Walter's time of 29:48.40 was good for fifth, and the Ave Maria team score was completed by Jorge Jimenez, who crossed the finish line at 30:00.64. 

After a one-week break, the Gyrenes will return to action on Friday, September 17. AMU will run at the National Catholic Invitational, hosted in South Bend, Indiana by the University of Notre Dame.