Kutztown, PA. – The Wheeling University Men's Cross Country team kicked off their season on Friday night at the Kutztown D2/D3 Challenge. It was a solid performances to start the season for the Cardinals as they finished 11th in the field against some ranked competition. Sophomore Izaiha Browning had a new PR effort and cracked the top 30 as they started the season off strong.

Browning was the lone Cardinal to finish in the top 30 of the event as he set a new PR running a 28:01.20 on the 8K course. He had an average mile of just over 5:30 on the day and beat his previous best by two minutes. Browning is looked on as one of the leaders for the Cardinals this season and he got off to a hot start from the get-go. Finishing behind him in 65th place was freshman Hunter Tomich, who ran a 29:06.40. It was his first collegiate cross country race and he began his season with a strong debut. He and Browning have now set the tone of the season for the Cardinals and will look to continue to lead the team through the rest of the season.

The next two Cardinals both had solid debuts to their cross country careers as they look to help the team. Julius Hobbs began his career with a 114th place finish with a time of 31:58.70 in his first race. Three spots later, Amir Roque finished his first collegiate race in a time of 32:21.30. Rounding out the field for the Cardinals was CJ Anderson, who finished 132nd with a time of 34:03.80. Overall, Head Coach Patrick Stanton was excited about his team's performances in their season debuts. He called it "a growing race" and was happy to see some of his newest Cardinals make strong debuts.

The Wheeling University Men's Cross Country team will return to action on Saturday, October 1st, at the Live the Lou Cross Country Classic.