UTM’s men’s and women’s cross country teams finished third at the Washington University Early Bird Meet in Forest Park, Mo., on Sept. 2.

The Skyhawk men all finished among the top 25. As a team, the Skyhawks finished third overall with 85 points and an average time of 25:12.

Paul Thames turned in the fastest Skyhawk time at 22:14 in the 6K run.

“On the men’s side we have a long haul,” said Gordon Sanders, the Skyhawks’ head coach.

“The top two runners from the past two seasons came in injured and are working only to get to racing form by the conference meet.”

The Skyhawk women also finished third in the Early Bird 4K with 84 points and an average time of 16:56.

Shannon Wall had their fastest Skyhawk women’s time of 16:15, finishing 14 overall.

“With seven new faces on the women’s team, it was not surprising that a few broke into the top five spots,” Sanders said.

“Our top three finishers were within 30 seconds of each other and I expect at least five women will be in that 30-second group by October. They will be a stronger team racing as a pack.”

Bradley University finished first in both the men and women’s meets.