LOUISVILLE, Ky. – The Mercyhurst cross country teams turned in impressive performances at the Swags Louisville CC Classic over the weekend, the women's team raced to a standout second place finish out of 23 teams, while the men followed closely behind with a strong third place finish out of 25 teams.

The women's squad competed in the 5K race against a field of 204 runners and delivered a strong collective effort. Leading the charge for Mercyhurst was Caitlin Dugan, who turned in a stellar performance with a seventh place finish, clocking a time of 19:35.6. Not far behind was Molly McIntyre, who also impressed with an 11th-place finish in 19:45.3. 

The next two Lakers to cross the finish line were Rowan Milliron finishing 18th with a time of 20:00.8 and Reagan Pettis coming in at 23rd with a time of 20:12.8.Closing out the final scoring spots for the Lakers were Bella Homorody at 28th with a time of 20:19.0, Kaila Szczygielski at 44th with a 20:41.1, and Kathleen Tarlo, who finished 88th with a 21:46.7.

The women's team all improved their 5k times to season-bests.

The men's team competed in the 8K against 237 other runners rounding out a strong third place team finish. Continuing his impressive freshman campaign, Thomas Gaydos once again led the Lakers, earning a fifth-place finish with a season-best time of 25:55.6. 

The next two Lakers finished in close succession, starting with Xavier Mohamed at 23rd with a time of 26:47.7, followed by Sawyer Bonnett coming in at 25th with a time of 26:50.7. Both runners also notched season-best performances. 

Rounding out the scoring for Mercyhurst was Camden Pierce, who finished 59th in a season-best 27:55.6. He was followed by Daniel Derby at 79th with a time of 28:25.1, Max Dillaman at 92nd with a season-best 28:41.2, and Alexander Rowe, who capped off the Lakers' effort with a 147th-place finish in a season-best 29:58.9.

The Lakers head to Pittsburgh next weekend to compete in the Carnegie Mellon Invite on Saturday, October 11.