CHEYENNE, Wyo. --- The Western Colorado men's and women's cross country teams each finished fourth at the season-opening Wyoming Invitational on Friday at the Little America Golf Course as the Mountaineers were the only non-Division I programs in this tough field.
 
The Western men's team - ranked No. 2 in Division II - finished with 90 points, 43 points off of invite winner Wyoming, as both Taylor Stack and Charlie Sweeney finished in the top ten. Sweeney led the Mountaineers crossing the line in 15 minutes, 20.9 seconds - just 15.9 seconds behind the leader and placing sixth overall. Stack finished 10th overall, crossing the line in 15:26.2 - 21.2 seconds off the leader.
 
The next three Mountaineers to finish were Ross Husch (32nd, 16:05.4), Juan Diaz (40th, 16:12.5) and Ricky Esqueda (42nd, 16:14.7).
 
The Western women's team - ranked 3rd in Division II - finished with 82 points, 48 points off of the leaders from Colorado State. Leading the Mountaineers across the finish line was true freshman Alexa Rodriguez in a time of 18:57.2, placing her 17th in the field.
 
Five Mountaineers came in a few seconds behind Rodriduez, Malindi (Lindi) Congour was the second finisher for Western crossing in 18:57.1 in 20th place with Alexia Thiros (18:57.2 – 22nd), Bailey Sharon (19:03.1 – 24th), Alyssa Tatum (19:05.6 – 25th), and Katie Doucette (19:06.7 – 26th) all within 10 seconds of each other.
 
The Mountaineers will be back in action next weekend as they are set to host the Mountaineer/Cowboy Invite in Gunnison on Saturday, Sept. 14.

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