TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The Utah Valley University men's cross country team posted a 19th-place finish out of 40 teams while the women's squad finished 21st out of 33 squads at the highly competitive Pre-Nationals at Apalachee Regional Park at Florida State University on Friday morning. 
 
For the first time on the season, freshman Max Mahon led the way for the men's squad by crossing the 8K Men's Garnet Race in 50th place out of 304 competitors with a blazing time of 23:50.8. Fellow freshman Caila Odekirk paced the women on the day by placing 61st out of 246 runners in the 6K Women's Garnet Race with a time of 20:47.4. Both times are the fastest respective 8K and 6K times on the season for the Wolverines.
 
With 12 nationally ranked teams and 40 teams in all participating in the men's 8K on Friday, UVU finished 19th with 584 points to finish three spots back of No. 25 Weber State (454), two spots behind No. 30 Charlotte (496), and one back of Kentucky (551). By finishing in the top-half of the stacked race, the Wolverine men finished ahead of Liberty (595), North Florida (604), Santa Clara (652), Cincinnati (655), Charleston Southern (665), Tennessee (667), Bradley (731), ULCA (746), Wyoming (756), Northeastern (816), Florida (840), Arizona State (850), Miami (Ohio) (855), Ohio State (878), Georgia (889), Rice (898), Auburn (930), Illinois (1019), South Alabama (1050), Bucknell (1093), and Central Arkansas (1279). The top-ranked Northern Arizona Lumberjacks won the men's race with 64 points.
 
"It was a pretty good meet today and our men ran really well. I was pleased with the 19th-place finish, and it was great to be able to beat a number of good teams from all around the country," head UVU coach Scott Houle said. "Our freshman Max Mahon ran a really smart race to lead the way. He, as well as Britain and Geofrey all ran really solid races. When we get a little more experience for our fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh runners, we will be in a really good place. All-in-all, we ran well and beat a number of teams that we were hoping to defeat so I'm pleased with our performance."
 
With 10 nationally ranked squads and 33 in all taking part in the women's 6K, the UVU women placed 21st with 531 points to finish three spots back of Boston College (482), two back of WAC foe California Baptist (492), and one back of UC Davis (496). By taking 21st, the Wolverine women finished ahead of Miami (Ohio) (567), Elon (576), Wyoming (667), UCLA (679), Kansas (709), Kansas State (730), Montana State (736), Auburn (762), Arizona (814), Arkansas State (814), Central Arkansas (969), and UCF (1000). The fifth-ranked Colorado Buffaloes won the women's race with 54 points. 
 
"On the women's side, we had another freshman lead the way in Caila Odekirk," Houle added. "She's really starting to figure things out and realize just how good she is against these top college runners. Maddie and Mazzie both also had good races, but again we are looking to close that gap with our fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh runners. But it was a great meet and I'm pleased that our women's team was able to beat a number of teams that we haven't beaten in the past. We've just got to close that gap a bit on those teams that we need to beat to get a bid to the NCAA Championships. It was a great meet, and this is a very beautiful course and area. It was a great opportunity for our kids to be here." 
 
Behind Mahon's 50th-place finish, reigning NCAA qualifier Britain Reynolds was next for the UVU men by crossing the finish line in a time of 24:11.6 to place 91st, followed by Geofrey Kemboi in 130th (24:26.2), Habtamu Cheney in 145th (24:35.3), Kale Sharp in 179th (24:49.5), Austin Hone in 211th (25:02.1), and Max Burton in 276th (25:53.8). 
 
On the women's side, returning NCAA qualifier Maddie Bench Empey was UVU's second-place finisher by taking 78th with a 6K time of 20:57.4 to finish just 10 seconds back of Odekirk. Mazzie Melaney Preston too had a strong outing by taking 87th (21:04.5), followed by Maggie Zwahlen in 149th (21:46.6), Hannah Branch in 169th (21:59.9), Zoe Hales in 172nd (22:01.0), and Taylor Viertel in 178th (22:05.8). 
 
The meet marked the UVU's final big regular season meet as the WAC Championships are set for Oct. 30 in Riverside, Calif. The Wolverines will officially close their regular season on Thursday, Oct. 21 by taking part at the Utah Open at Sunnyside Park in Salt Lake City.