Cross Country wraps up competition at Fighting Bee Invitational

DAVENPORT, Iowa – The Clarke Pride men's and women's cross country teams had standout individual performances at the Fighting Bee Invitational in Davenport, Iowa, on Saturday as the women saw three of its runners finish in the top-10 of the 5K and for the men, Benjamin Vasquez finished in 13th place in his first collegiate 8K race.

On the women's side, Rory Bickler was the top Clarke performer, finishing the race at a time of 19:58.9 to take third, followed by junior Claire Ronnebaum, who placed fourth with a time of 20:01.4. Ricar Mends (20:37.2) and Marina Mercado (23:03.2) finished sixth and 10^th, respectively, to round out the CU performance.

On the men's side, Vasquez finished with Clarke's top time at 29:39.9, placing the freshman 13^th overall. Emmett Schwartzhoff (31:05.8), Brennan Shelton (31:57.4), and Kole Haverly (32:46.6) rounded out Clarke's runners.

Clarke cross country will return to action on Friday, Sept. 17, when it travels to Bourbonnais, Ill., to take part in the Tiger XC Invitational.