TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — The Ave Maria Cross Country had a good showing at the FSU XC Invite Friday morning, with the men's team finishing first among Sun Conference teams at the meet and the women finishing in second. The Gyrenes ran a good race and got a preview of what the course for the NAIA National Championships will be like in November.

The men edged out SCAD for the top spot among the five Sun Conference teams running in the race. The Gyrenes got points from David Giles, Donavan Mattson, Sebastian Shea, Samuel Paga and John Halvorsen. Giles led the bunch, finishing in 56^th place out of 317 runners. While SCAD's top runner finished in the top 20 in the race, the rest of their four scorers were behind Gyrenes, leading to Ave Maria's higher placement over the bees.

The Gyrenes were second among all NAIA teams at the invite, trailing Taylor University from Indiana. Overall, Ave Maria finished 15^th in a field of 34 teams. Of the 19 teams the Gyrenes beat, four were from the Sun Conference, four were NCAA Division II schools and another four were NCAA Division I schools.

The Georgia Bulldogs won the whole men's race, with their six runners finishing in the top eight. The North Florida Ospreys finished second and host Florida State finished in third.

On the women's side, Ave Maria was again in competition with SCAD for the top Sun Conference spot but had to settle for second against the Bees. The Gyrenes got points from Esther Shipley, Annabella Descalzo, Madison Thomas, Lily Hynds and Maria Gutierrez. Shipley led the bunch, finishing 124^th out of 351 runners.

Though falling to the Bees, Ave Maria beat out conference foe, Southeastern, for second among the three Sun teams at the invite. Overall, the Gyrenes finished 20^th in a field of 36 teams. Among the 16 teams behind the Gyrenes, five were NCAA Division II schools.

LSU won the women's race, followed by host Florida State in second and Georgia in third.

The Gyrenes will stay home for their next meet as the host the annual Ave Maria Invitational on October 11. This year's meet will be at Gyrene Field, starting and ending at the 50-yard line. The course is a one-mile loop around the athletic fields on campus. The men will do four loops for their four-mile race, and the women will do three loops for their 5k. The men's race will start at 7:30 a.m. and the women will start at 8:15 a.m. The awards ceremony will begin at 9 a.m.

The meet is part of a quadruple header on the Ave Maria campus. Following the invite, Women's Soccer will kickoff a match at 11 a.m., Volleyball will play a match at 2 p.m. and the Football team will kickoff at 7 p.m.