OREM, Utah – The Utah Valley University men's and women's cross country teams kicked off their 2019 season with the men winning Saturday's home Vivint Cross Country Invitational and the women earning runner-up honors. Hawk Call led the way for the Wolverine men by earning his first collegiate victory as he starts his sophomore year at UVU.
 
"Our summer training has been going great and our team has been looking really strong this year," said Call. "The first two laps we were sticking together. I was looking around me and I was like this is awesome, we're going to have a good solid team this year. I'm super proud of my team today and super happy with how today went. It was a great season opener and eye opener for our team."
 
UVU redshirt sophomore Maddie Bench Empey paced the women's team with a top-five overall finish and a time of 18:50.9. Following suit was freshman Kate Richardson with 19:10 and senior Savannah Neuberger with 19:12, both placing seventh and eighth overall. This year's newcomers had a big part in contributing to the women's team second-place finish, including Megan Nielsen (19:13) and her top-10 finish of 10th. Sophomore Mazzie Melaney (19:21) followed in 14th, while freshmen Trinity Shimbeck (19:22) and Lily Poulton (19:45) rounded out the top-20 by placing 15th and 20th, respectively. 
 
"The women's meet went very well. I think all teams that came had some plans they were trying to do, and I think it was all achieved," UVU head coach Scott Houle said. "We went out there and ran well, and the young kids got baptized by fire and I think they learned that they belong at this level."
 
Call achieved a collegiate best by taking first place overall at the home opener with a blazing time of 15:38.2 in the men's 5K race. He was close behind Geofrey Kemboi (15:44), who ended up taking second overall, for most of the race but knew he could push himself towards the end.
 
"That last lap Geofrey started pulling ahead and I was like you know what, now's the chance. If I'm going to get him, I've got to go now. So I went with him, stuck with him, and I used that last downhill to my advantage to sprint into the finish to take first place," said Call.
 
The men's team saw great success at this year's home meet. Sophomore Britain Reynolds (15:55) and freshman Daniel Bausch (16:07) came in consecutively at fourth and fifth place to give the Wolverines four of the top five finishers in the race. Contributing to the men's success included sophomore Jared Gonzalez-Perez (16:14), freshman Caleb Ream (16:27), and redshirt freshman Blaise Miller (16:33) as they finished 10th, 14th and 17th, respectively.
 
"We knew we had a pretty solid men's team and for them to come out and run like they did on this course, I think we can build off that and have some success this season."
 
Both teams will have a break until they return to Riverside, California, to participate at this year's UC Riverside Invitational where the men's and women's will attempt their fate at coming out on top. The UCR Invite will be held on Saturday, September 14 at the UCR Ag Ops Course.