After opening the season with title sweeps at the Sewanee Invitational, the Mississippi State University cross country teams hosted their annual Bulldog Invitational at the Mississippi Horse Park Saturday.
At meet’s end, both teams came out on top with the men earning 20 points and the women earning 15 points.
For the Lady Bulldogs, junior Haley Greenwell defended her title in the Women’s 5K with a time of 17:48.77, and junior Renee Masterson had a second-place finish of 18:07.24. Other Lady Dogs in the Top six achieved personal bests, including sophomore Anna Jarman (18:25.03) and freshmen Jodie Guff (18:32.84), Emma Neigel (18:39.20), and Madeleine Takahashi (18:50.96).  
On the men’s team, sophomore Cameron Vernier led the Bulldogs to victory in the 8K  with a third place personal best finish of 25:36.70, followed by sophomore Juan Sanchez with a time of 25:39.67. Other Bulldogs who finished in the Top 10 include sophomore John Valentine (25:40.34), junior Philip Johnson (25:42.75), sophomore Nathan Lewis with a personal best of 25:43.48 and sophomore Carter Hewitt in 25:44.99.
Among those teams present was longtime SEC arch rival, Louisiana State University, whose men’s and women’s teams placed second overall.
Head coach Houston Franks said he was very proud of both teams’ performances at the meet and their continual success as the season progresses.
“The men ran really well as a team, and I was really pleased with the small gap between our top seven,” Franks said. “The women ran really great. Anna Jarman had a big personal best as our third girl today and our freshmen are developing really quickly. I was really pleased to come away with a victory on both sides.”
Sophomore Nathan Lewis credits both teams’ victories to the hard work exerted during daily practice.
“The course was in great condition, the weather was nice, and any time you beat another conference team, I’d count it a success,” Lewis said. “Our men and women both are running strong right now and are going to continue grindin’ in the days, weeks and months to come and prove ourselves the toughest team in the conference.”
Masterson said she was very pleased to see both teams’ triumph through implementing their practice strategy, as well as an improvement in her personal performance.
“I was really impressed with our teams’ ability to run as a pack,” Masterson said. “It makes the whole race more enjoyable when you have teammates beside you working just as hard as you … I ran 30 seconds faster today than I ran last year on our course, so this is a good indication of what is possible in my future.”
Next, the MSU cross country teams will travel to Bethlehem, Pa. to compete in the Paul Short Invitational on Sept. 30.