MUCC Concludes Regular Season with Successful Bulldog Invitational

CARMEL, Indiana – Several members of the Marquette University cross country teams competed at the Bulldog Invitational on Friday afternoon. The meet, hosted by Butler University, took place at Northview Church in Carmel, Indiana.

The meet served as a tune up for next week's BIG EAST Championships in addition to it being the last meet of the year for those that won't compete in the postseason.

The MU men's team had nine runners compete and placed first, edging out BIG EAST foe Butler. Patrick Bruch set the pace for the men's team, running a season-best 8k time of 26:02.8 on the way to a 10^th place finish. Freshman Jadon Conroy finished less than a second behind him at 26:03.3. His time is a career-best out of the three 8k meets he's competed in.

Sophomore Grace Dargiewicz led the way for the MU women in a first-place finish in the four-team event. She set a 5k personal best with a time of 18:34.2, beating her old PR by almost 10 seconds and taking eighth place overall.

Freshmen Anna Penkover (19:16.2), Lauren Pappas (19:28.2), Mallory Lafever (19:30.7) and Marissa Valentini (19:54.6) closed out their first years in blue and gold by running 5k personal bests of their own. Each finished in the top 30 overall in the women's race.

UP NEXT:
MU will head home to prepare for the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships at the Wayne E. Dannehl XC Course in Somers, Wisconsin on Saturday, Nov. 2.

MEN'S RACE:
1^st of 2 (44 runners)
10. Patrick Bruch: 26:02.8
11. Jadon Conroy: 26:03.3*
16. Patrick Hetlage: 26:12.6*
17. Cade Ferron: 26:12.8
18. Matthew Cavanaugh: 26:14.0
20. Patrick Burns: 26:19.3
23. Derek Gross: 26:29.1

WOMEN'S WHITE RACE:
1st of 4 (42 runners)
8. Grace Dargiewicz: 18:34.2*
16. Anna Penzkover: 19:16.2*
18. Sophie Bolich: 19:22.4
22. Lauren Pappas: 19:28.2*
23. Mallory Lafever: 19:30.7*
25. Anna Buckstaff: 19:54.6
27. Marissa Valentini: 19:54.6*
30. Emma Moravec: 19:57.8

*Personal Best

Keep up with the Marquette cross country program through social media by following on Twitter (@MUTFXC) and Instagram (@MUTFXC) and `liking' on Facebook (/MUTFXC).