AVE MARIA, Fla. — The Ave Maria Cross Country hosted their 7^th annual Ave Maria Invitational Friday night. For the second year in a row, the meet was held at the Gyrene Athletic Fields instead of North Park, running a spectator friendly 2k loop. The men defended their home turf and put on a strong show as they won first place as a team and had five runners place in the top 10. The women also put on a strong performance Friday night, placing third among eight teams and having two runners finish in the top 10.

The opening race was the women's 6k, completing the 2k loop three times around the Gyrene Athletic Fields. Down a couple of runners, the rest of the Gyrenes picked up the slack and ran a hard 6000 meters. Lily Hynds was the first across the finish line for the Gyrenes, taking eighth place individually with a time of 24:20.8. Joining her in the top 10 was Miriam Murrell, taking 10^th place with a time of 24:38.0.

The other three scoring Gyrenes were Elise Huegerich in 15^th place with a time of 25:02.51, Regina Baird in 18^th place with a time of 25:17.85 and Noelle Davidson in 22^nd place with a time of 25:40.4.
As a team, the Gyrenes brought in 68 points, which was good for third place. Southeastern edged Ave Maria out among the Sun Conference teams, taking second place with 51 points. The team winner of the race was Eckerd, with four of their five runners placing in the top 12 and scoring 48 points.

The individual winner, while not a Gyrene, is still associated with Ave Maria as head coach Alan Webb's wife, Julia Webb, posted the best time at 22:53.60. The second-place finisher and top affiliated runner was from Southeastern, and the third place runner was from St. Thomas.

The men ran in the late race, running the 2k loop four times for a total of eight kilometers. Ave Maria continued to finish strong as all five scoring Gyrenes finished in the top 10.

Sophomore David Giles was again the top dog for the Gyrenes, finishing second overall with a time of 26:25.7. He was immediately followed by two more Gyrenes with Donavan Mattson placing third with a time of 26:45.2 and Utah Gusa in fourth with a time of 27:05.5.

Sebastian Shea was the fourth Gyrene to cross the finish line, taking sixth place with a time of 27:28.8. John Murphy was the last to contribute to Ave Maria's score, placing 10^th at a time of 27:43.3. The first Gyrene to miss the cut was Michael Donahue in 16^th place with a time of 28:29.0.

Three of the other four runners were unaffiliated and therefore did not contribute to a team score, meaning Ave Maria scored about as low as they possibly could in the invitational. With just 16 points, the Gyrene men won their home meet for the sixth year in a row. Southeastern finished in second place with a score of 56 and St. Thomas took third at 89 points.

The individual winner was from Keiser, posting a time of 26:04.32. The Seahawks only ran three runners, not enough for a team score to compete with the other Sun Conference teams. Second, third and fourth place individually all went to Ave Maria.

Ave Maria has one final meet in the regular season. On October 24, the Gyrenes make their way up to Michigan to compete in the Great Lakes Challenge. This will be the fourth year in a row the Gyrenes will compete in the Wolverine State. The men's team has always liked racing in the Great Lakes Challenge as seven of the top 10 times in program history are from the Great Lakes Challenge in the men's 8k. Most of the women's top times are from races in the Sunshine State.

After the Great Lakes Challenge, the Gyrenes prepare for the Sun Conference Championship, which will again be held at Ave Maria. The course will be the exact same 2k loop they ran Friday night, so now the Gyrenes have set a benchmark they want to go pass. The Championship races are set for November 7 and like the Invitational races on Friday, they will be streamed live on the Sun Digital Network.