COLUMBIA, Mo. – Missouri S&T's cross country teams had finishers among the top four Saturday morning at the Brian T. Simpson Invitational, as the Miner squads each recorded fourth place finishes at the meet held at Gans Creek Cross Country Course.

Emma Puetz (Rolla, MO/Rolla) had the top finish for the women's squad as she took third overall in the five-kilometer race in 17:41 -- the fastest time ever recorded by a Miner in a five-kilometer event.  Puetz finished behind two runners from team champion St. Mary (Kan.) – Riley Hiebert was the overall winner in 17:30 – as she ran a time under 18 minutes for the second week in succession and beat the previous fastest time of 17:42 recorded by Kate Hamera 20 years ago.

Victoria Regitz (Rockville, MD/Rockville) was the next S&T runner to finish as she did so in 29^th place in 19:49, while Clare Holmes (Camdenton, MO/Camdenton) was 33^rd in 19:59 and Grace Giesler (Owasso, OK/Owasso) was 39^th in 20:20.  The Miners' top five was wrapped up by Grace Johnson (Rogersville, MO/Logan-Rogersville) in 55^th place in 21:36, while
Allison Rush (St. Charles, MO/Francis Howell Central) finished in 22:03 to complete the scoring spots.

S&T finished with 146 points and was second among the GLVC teams in the meet behind Southwest Baptist, as it was able to hold off Central Missouri and Missouri-St. Louis for the fourth place spot.

The top runner for the men's team on Saturday was Lucas Rackers (Florissant, MO/St. Louis University HS), who covered the five-kilometer course in 25:11 to finish in fourth place.  Samuel Patterson (Cameron, NC/Union Pines) finished in 23^rd place in a time of 26:00, while Joshua Patterson (Cameron, NC/Union Pines) was two spots behind him in 25^th with his time of 26:01.  The Miners' top five was wrapped up by Jonah Yates (Ballwin, MO/Parkway West), who placed 36^th in 26:44 and Dylan Fritz (Ozark, MO/Ozark), who finished 39^th in 26:49.

S&T's next two runners across the finish line were Shaun Wolfe (Fulton, MO/Fulton), who had a time of 27:12 and Zoran Rodriguez (Shawnee, KS/Bishop Miege), who crossed in 27:13.

Missouri-St. Louis' Benjamin VandenBrink took the individual championship with a time of 25:45, edging teammate Jacob Warner by just over a second.  St. Mary (Kan.) captured the team championship with 32 points; the Miners finished with 108 as they were also behind UMSL and Southwest Baptist.

The GLVC Championships will take place on Oct. 21 at the Bolivar Golf Course in Bolivar, Mo.