WARRENVILLE, Ill. -- Both the Augustana Vikings men's and women's cross country teams competed at the Gil Dodds Invitational over the weekend at St. James Farm, seeing a competitive field on both sides as they continue to prepare for the CCIW and NCAA regional meets later in the fall.

On the women's side, Irais Tenorio led the way for the Vikings with a time of 25:01 in the 6k race. She improved on her time in this race from three years ago by over a minute-and-a-half and was good for a top 50 finish at 44th place. Right behind her was teammate Kara Lotz in 45th, ending just two seconds behind Tenorio. The next batch of Augie runners to come in was spearheaded by Christina Dionysia Bourtzoni, who secured a final time of 26:48. She was joined two seconds later by Emma Odle. Madison Weis rounded out the top five for the Vikings in 69th overall, followed by teammates Paige Kern in 70th and Casey De La Cruz in 72nd.

Overall, the Augie women placed 10th in the outing.

"It was a great experience for our first 6k of the season and for most, their first lifetime 6k," said acting head coach Colin Young. "It was promising to see two freshmen crack the top five. We are training really well right now and am looking forward to see how we perform at our home meets coming up."

On the men's side, Michael Gille was just three seconds behind first place as he crossed the finish line as the race's runner-up with a time of 25:10. Teammate Karsten Zielinski also had a successful outing for the Vikings, placing 13th with a final mark of 26:18. The team saw two others crack the top 30 in Grant Ackard and Evan Webber, making it four in total in an event that saw 17 teams present. Steven Haley also earned 43rd for the Vikings, followed by Alex Gazarek and Andrew Jones to round out the scoring for Augustana.

Overall, the Vikings placed fourth with an average team time of 26:31, which was good for second-best amongst teams.

Both teams are back in action on Friday, October 1st for the Brissman-Lundeen Invitational. The men will race first at 5:00 p.m. from Saukie Golf Course in Rock Island, followed by the women at 5:45 p.m.