The Valparaiso men’s and women’s cross country teams opened their seasons with the 26^th annual Crusader Open at Sunset Hills Farm. Tonight’s race marked the 21^st straight year the Brown and Gold have opened with this meet. 

In the women’s 4K, senior Jessica Richardson (Columbus, Ind./Columbus North) ran a strong race, finishing in second place with a time of 13:05.09, just under six seconds behind Western Michigan’s Maria McDaniel. Sophomore Liz Bloy (Freedom, Wis./Freedom) also impressed with a 13:54.8 as she finished in eighth. The women finished in third.

In the men’s 4K, senior David Rutkowski (Cedarburg, Wis./Living Word Lutheran) lead the Crusaders with a 11:45.6 to finish 20^th. Senior Trace Ostergren (LaPorte, Ind./Culver Academy) and sophomore Adam Bruno (Bloomington, Ill./Normal) finished in the top 30 with times of 12:08.9 and 12:13.6, respectively, to help the Crusaders finish third.

Notre Dame won the men’s title, while Western Michigan won the women’s.

The Crusaders return to action September 20 at the Western Invitational in London, Ontario, Canada.

-Valpo Cross Country-