RIVERSIDE, Calif. - The Utah Valley University men's and women's cross country teams both took fourth place overall at the UC Riverside Invitational on Saturday behind top-five finishes from Kevin Lynch and Geofrey Kemboi on the men's side and a top-20 finish from Mazzie Melaney on the women's.
 
The senior Lynch anchored the Wolverine men by taking third overall at the UCR Invite and clocking in a time of 24:14.82 in the 8K race. Right behind was the junior Kemboi in fourth place with a time of 24:22.42, as each contributed three and four points to the team score. Coming in 15th was sophomore Britain Reynolds at 24:41.68, breaking his 8K record from last year's UCR Invite.
 
Rounding out the men's squad in the Invitational were newcomers Daniel Bausch (25:17.08) and Jorge Vazquez (25:22.99), followed by junior Lamek Keditukei (25:58.14), sophomores Hawk Call (26:15.20) and Jared Gonzalez-Perez (26:31.44), and freshman Blaise Miller (26:57.25).
 
"I'm proud of both Kevin and Geofrey. Both had really solid performances and I'm excited to see how they continues to progress," head UVU coach Scott Houle said. "Britain Reynolds, as a sophomore, also did a great job and I think we are going to see our grouping get a little better throughout the year.
 
"We came here and had the result that we were hoping for by finishing in the top-four. Overall, it was a great meet for us with great competition and great weather. I'm pretty excited with the results of the day."
 
On the women's side, the team saw their first runner, the sophomore Melaney, come in 18th overall with a personal best of 21:03.15 in the women's 6K. A few seconds later a trio of runners rounded out top-25 finishes with sophomore Maddie Bench Empey coming in 21st (21:07.53), senior Savannah Neuberger placing 22nd (21:08.03), and freshman Kate Richardson taking 23rd (21:09.33).
 
Completing the rest of the roster for the Invitational for the UVU women were sophomores Taylor Viertel (21:31.02) and Skye Jeppson (21:31.91), Sophomore Megan Nielsen (22:26.94), and newcomers Trinity Schimbeck (21:46.26) and Lily Poulton (22:52.17). 
 
"I thought our women's team ran a very solid race. Mazzie was our top finisher and she ran a really good, smart race. Kate Richards also had a good race by running the fastest time here for a freshman female," Houle added. "Our women did a good job."
 
Cal Poly took the win in the men's 8K Invitational with 43 points, followed by WAC foe California Baptist as runner-up (88), and UC Santa Barbara in third (99). The UVU men took fourth with 111 points to finish ahead of in-state foe Southern Utah, UC Riverside, Pepperdine, Long Beach State, Sacramento State, UC Irvine, Fresno State, as well as a number of other schools. On the women's side CBU took first place with 32 points and in-state foe Southern Utah came in second (54), and Cal Poly took third (72). The UVU women placed fourth with 104 points to finish ahead of UC Santa Barbara, UC Irvine, Long Beach State, UC Riverside, Sac State, San Diego State, Pepperdine, Hawaii and USC. 
 
A handful of other runners also competed for UVU in the Open meets. The women's team won the 5K Open with five members of the squad all earning top-25 finishes. Sophomore Maggie Zwahlen came in ninth overall by clocking in at 17:57.27, pacing the Wolverines, followed by Emily Jones in 15th (breaking her record with 18:22.51), Elizabeth Wilcox in 20th (18:40.98), Rylee Holt in 23rd (18:46.45), and Cami Squires in 25th (18:49.10). 
 
Ending the day in the men's 8K Open, freshmen Max Bailey (25:43.24) and Caleb Ream (25:54.90) led the Wolverines with top-10 finishes, both placing 5th and 8th respectively. Coming in third for the men's squad was sophomore Kale Sharp, finishing in 29th overall at 26:38.75. Rounding out the race for UVU was Sam Coleman in 55th (27:19.52), Henry Giles in 89th (28:38.58), and Scott Van Matre in 101st (29:11.80).
 
"We definitely got some good things out of this meet," Houle concluded. "I think we have a lot of improvements that we can make and think we'll see that at the end of the season."
 
Both teams will now have some extended time off before they head to South Bend, Indiana, for the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invitational on Oct. 4. The meet will be held on the Burke Golf Course and will start at 11 a.m. MT.