SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. -- On a warm, sunny Saturday in San Francisco the USF Dons men's and women's cross country teams began their 2022 season with a strong team performance at the 2022 USF Invitational at Golden Gate Park.

USF got their season off to a great start in their first and only home meet of the season, with the women's team finishing in second place and the men coming in third at their home course. Leading the way for the Dons men's team was graduate student Edward Buck who came in second place in his first ever meet with USF, while junior Ruby Smee continued her stellar Dons career with a fifth place finish in the 6,000 meter run.

Wrapping up the festivities on Saturday was the first ever mixed gender 4x2000 meter relay that saw the Dons place fourth overall to begin their season on a high note. 

FINAL RESULTS:
Women's 6,000 M:
5. Ruby Smee 21:11.2
20. Sophie Soefeldt 22:01.8
25. Baneet Bains 22:07.5
29. Kira Gupta Baltazar 22:17.7
30. Abby Pradere 22:20.9
37. Kalii Caldwell 22:44.9
90. Clodagh Mellett 25:10.1
99. Kaylee Noda 25:52.2
100. Maddie Perkins 25:57.4
113. Veronika Divis 28:07.9
2nd Place
Team Score: 87
Total Time: 1:49.59

Men's 8,000 M:
2. Ed Buck 25:01.3
20. Caleb Haugland 25:35.7
28. Daniel Abramowicz 25:49.5
32. Ben Preddy 25:57.7
36. Marshall Bush 26:03.1
47. Hiruy Alemseged 26:19.3
92. Aaron Ruiz 27:35.9

Mixed Gender Relay:
4th Place Finish
Participants: Joe Skovron, Emily Jackson, Carter Lewis and Julia Morales 
26:27.19

CATCHING UP WITH COACH RILEY:
"I think our men ran pretty aggressive and that's what we wanted. For the women we wanted to be a little more conservative at the start and then chase them down at the end, that's exactly where we want to be this time of year. We knew Ed was in pretty good shape but we had never seen him race before. It's reassuring to see that's the kind of guy we brought here a racer and competitor and somebody who can run up front. We had girls like Ruby up there today and Kira ran amazing. Baneet ran really well and Abby was right there too and Sophie who we didn't even have last fall so that was a big piece we were looking for. We sat a couple girls today and it'll be good to be full strength at the end of the month.

UP NEXT:
The Dons will now take the next week off before the men's team will head down to Southern California for the Riverside Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 17. Both teams will then return to action together at the end of the month for the Notre Dame Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 30. 

For more information on the USF men's and women's cross country programs, be sure to follow @donsxctf on Twitter, @donsxctf on Instagram and @donsxctf on Facebook.