BOLIVAR, Mo.— The Drury men's cross country team opened the 2023 season with a win at the SBU Invitational held at the Bolivar Municipal Golf Course on Friday. The Drury women's team finished third among 12 teams in their event.
 
Men's runner Tyler Harris, in his collegiate debut, was the runner-up, finishing second among 162 runners. The freshman from Springfield-Kickapoo completed the four-mile run in 19:36.61 to come in less than five seconds from winner Brian Mitei from Central Missouri.
 
Ethan Haynes, a sophomore from Republic, came in sixth with a time of 19:51.52, while Thomas Schuster (Soph., Willard) was right behind him seventh, crossing the line in 19:55.16. Gabe Bauer (Soph., Ozark) was 12^th with a time of 20:07.05, and Santiago Nunez-Gonzalez (Soph., Garden City, Kan.) finished 14^th (20:14.66).
 
The Panthers had their top seven runners all finish in the top 20 as Cole Sutton was 17^th (20:23.36) and Trent Patterson finished with 20^th (20:27.12).
 
Drury finished with 41 points to finish in a 13-team field and came in ahead of Central Missouri with 63 and 21^st ranked Missouri Southern's total of 80.
 
The Drury women's team was third with 94 points. Missouri Southern won the women's event with 28 points, while host Southwest Baptist was second with 77.
 
Zoe Van Dijk came in third in a field of 104 runners as the sophomore from The Netherlands completed the 5-kilometer run in 18:36.46. Freshman Ashley Sexton out of Fayetteville, Ark., was 11^th with a time of 19:15.40, and Mia Harris (Sr., West Plains) was 23^rd (19:43.38). Alexis Workman, a junior from Springfield-Summit Academy, was 27th, finishing with a time of 20:08.06, and Olivia Hall (Sr., Springfield-Kickapoo) was 30^th (20:18.53).
 
Both Drury cross country teams compete again on Sept. 15 in the Missouri Southern Stampede in Joplin. 
 
 
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