MARYVILLE, Mo. - It was a more typical afternoon for the first cross country meet of the year for the Peru State women harriers.

The Bobcats participated in the Bearcat Invite hosted by Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, Mo., and ran in warm weather as they have done most of the time.

While competing against several of the better NCAA DII teams, the Bobcats finished last in the five-team meet. However, there were many bright spots as most of the returning Peru State runners had better times than last year.

NCAA Division II Washburn (Kan.) won the meet with a team total of 28. Missouri Western and the hosts Northwest Missouri State – also DII teams – finished second and third respectively with scores of 39 and 63. Haskell Indian Nations (Kan.) was fourth at 123 and Peru State was close behind with a score of 129.

Senior Julia Zurek (Louisville) was Peru State's top runner as she finished 24th overall (21st for scoring purposes) in a time of 23:20.61. Zurek's time was 73 seconds faster than last year. The other senior on the team - Jacey Sutton (Wahoo) was 29th (25th) and ran a 25:43.29 which was 59 seconds faster than one year ago.

Freshman Sophia Schroeder (Ravenna) finished 30^th (26^th) in 25:59.75 while sophomore Aubrey Wattier (Malcolm) was 32^nd (28^th) in 26:39.34. Wattier's time was 28 seconds faster than last season.

Peru State's fifth scoring runner was sophomore Alyssa Brink (Oakland, Iowa) who finished in 27:14.63 to finished 33^rd (29^th). Brink's time was 75 seconds faster than in 2018. Another sophomore Hailee Lynn (Malcolm) was one spot behind Brink to finish 34^th (30^th) in 27:16.93. Lynn's time was two minutes better than last season.

Other Bobcat finishers included Brealynn Wattier (Malcolm) – 36^th/31^st in 29:33.74, Makalah Scheele (Beatrice) – 39^th in 32:26.23, Marissa Wingert (Panama, Iowa) – 40^th in 32:31.19, and Annika McDonald (Tecumseh) – 41^st in 35:27.56.

Upcoming Meets

The Bobcats will be competing in the Bronco Stampede hosted by Hastings College on Saturday, Sept. 14.

Two weeks later the 'Cats will be participating in the Wildcat Open hosted by Wayne State on Friday, Sept. 27.