GEORGETOWN, TEXAS - The Southwestern University Men's Cross Country team opened up the 2025 season by hosting the Stormy Seas Opener on Saturday, August 30th. The Pirates faced a challenging 5K course, where all of them crossed the finish line in under twenty-one minutes.

Head Coach Joe Sponsel shared his thoughts post meet saying, "Overall I'm pleased with how we ran this morning. I talked to the team this week about understanding what our definition of success is here at the first race, that is executing a simple race plan and coming away knowing a couple things in our control which we can improve for next time. Obviously I want everyone to run as fast as they can, but they need to learn how exactly to do that, whether it's nutrition, hydration, sleep, imagery, mantras, getting hyped, or something else. Identifying those and then exerting our control over them will help us get the most out of the fitness we have, improve our times, and competitive ceiling. More specifically, for the men's race, despite missing a few athletes due to sickness, we ran  solid. Most of the guys finished higher than their place at the lap split and showed good composure in not going out too fast and blowing up. Our fitness will improve over the season, but it's a good start to know we have more to give, and can control the effort when we need to."

MEET HIGHLIGHTS

• Jackson Herlin completed this race forty seconds faster than last years race

SOUTHWESTERN RESULTS

Kevin Love - 16:54.8

Leo Redding - 17:05

Cade Rosenquist - 17:19.3

Emilio Salas - 17:37.3

Cooper Stoughton - 18:31.9

Jackson Herlin - 18:41.4

Packard Smith - 20:12

Gary Sunderland - 20:28.3

UP NEXT

• The Pirates will be traveling to Kerrville, Texas to take on the Mountaineer Hill Country Invite on Saturday, September 20th.