BY CHANCE WEEKS-WILLIAMS, Staff Reporter

On Oct. 4 the Central Washington University cross country teams traveled to the University of Montana in Missoula for the University of Montana Invitational.

Both teams came in fourth place out of the six teams that competed; Central’s highest finish since the season-opening CWU Invitational.

Central Washington was the only team that competed from Washington; the other teams that competed were Montana, Montana State Carroll, Rocky Mountain and fellow GNAC School Montana State. Montana State’s men and women’s teams won the meet.

They ran an eight-kilometer race in Missoula that was higher in altitude.

“It was our first time going out there, but I was really happy about the team’s performance,” head coach Kevin Adkisson said.

Junior Rudy Spencer paved the way for the men’s team with a time of 26:45 in the eight kilometer race, which was good for 19th place overall.

The men Wildcats team had three other top 30 finishers with senior Nathan Minor, finishing in 27:00 with freshman Tomislav Smith finishing one second behind Minor.

Senior John Wojtech was the final Wildcat runner to finish in the top-30 with a time of 27:10. Sophomore Nick Spencer rounded out the Wildcats finishes with a solid time of 27:26, which ranked 36th overall. Sophomore Dani Eggleston was the leader of the pack for the women’s team with a time of 22:47, which was good for 12th place in the women’s race. Senior Connie Morgan finished right behind Eggleston with a time of 22:48.

Central had six of the top 40 finishes at Missoula, with junior Lacey Wagner (32nd), sophomore Danielle Maldonado (35th), sophomore Megan Rogers (37th) and freshman Hannah Dowdell (38th).

The Wildcats travel to Bellingham for the annual Western Washington University Classic Invitational.