St. Louis, Mo. - The Columbia College men's and women's cross country team opened up the 2014 season this morning in St. Louis, Mo. The Cougars competed in the Gabby Reuveni Early Bird hosted by Washington University. The Columbia men won the team portion of the event, placing first out of nine teams. Conference members St. Louis College of Pharmacy (7^th) and Williams Baptist (8^th), were among the nine teams. The Columbia women placed third out ten teams, finishing behind Southeast Missouri State and Washington University. The ten teams included conference foes St. Louis College of Pharmacy (7^th), Williams Baptist (8^th), and Missouri Baptist (9^th).

The Cougar men were led by Junior Cris Renteria, who finished 2^nd overall with a time of 19:26. Tommy Skosky finished 4th with a time of 19:38, followed by Brennan Cape (19:45) in 6th, Michael McCulloch (19:46) in 7th, Devin Sander (20:01) in 18th, Seth Schenck (20:47) in 38^th, Cody Gorham (20:58) in 46^th, Jordan Andrews (20:58) in 49^th, and Josh Vitoux (25:55) in 86th.

The Cougar women were led by junior returning All-American Lindsey Martin, finishing first overall with a time of 14:27 in the 4K race. Sophomore Riley Fader placed sixth with a time of 15:04, followed by Emily Shultz (15:11) in 9^th, Maggie Noble (15:59) in 30^th, Emily Deeken (16:28) in 45^th, Julia Montgomery (16:33) in 48^th overall and Rachel Davis (16:42) in 53rd.

The Columbia men and women will return to the course Saturday, September 20^th when they travel to Joplin, Mo. for the Southern Stampede.