The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Men's Cross Country team took home the gold as Christian Patzka (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights) earned the individual champion at the Blugold Invitational on Saturday evening

The Men's Varsity team earned a first-place overall finish, their third of the year. Leading the way and earning the gold was Christian Patzka (Black Earth, Wis./Wisconsin Heights), crossing the line first at 24:31.00. Gunner Shlender finished fourth with a time of 24:54.90. Justin Krause (Ixonia, Wis./Pewaukee) and Dan Anderson (Eau Claire, Wis./McDonell) placed 6th (25:10.20) and 7th (25:10.40) with Craig Hundley (Grayslake, IL/North) topping off the top five Warhawks with a 10th place finish (25:13.10). Nick Hardin (Greenfield, Wis./Whitnall) (12th-25:27.50), Chris Allen (Downers Grove, Ill./North) (27th-25:49.60), Conner Murphy (28th-26:01.80), Tucker Johnson (Poynette, Wis./Poynette) (48th-26:09.00), and Alex Metko (Brillion, Wis./Brillion) (27:40.50) rounded out the Men's varsity squad. 

 On the Women's side, Katie Erb (Winnebago, Ill./Winnebago) was the first Warhawk to cross with a 21st place finish and a time of 23:18.00. Ari De La Cerda (Milwaukee, Wis./Pewaukee) placed 50th at 23:51.40 with Paige Fassbender (Slinger, Wis./Slinger) not far behind at 55th at 23:56.50. Payton Scoggin (Kenosha, Wis./Indian Trails) (77th-24:14.80), Jocelyn Ramirez (Jefferson, WI) (82nd-24:25.70), Renee Forystek (Waukesha, WI/North) (95th-24:32.60), Abbey Wedwick (Westby, WI) (24:50.30), Marlee Nichols (Burlington, WI) (25:48.70), Miranda McNally (Downers Grove, Ill./North) (25:50.30), and Emme Shingledecker (26:44.60) rounded out the women's squad that placed 8th overall out of 25 teams. 

For the Open races. The Warhawk men in the open took second overall. They were led by Landon Bratt finishing third overall with a time of 26:34.85. Keegan Bratt (Waukesha, WI/West) finished 15th overall with a time of 26:59.89. Also competing, finishing 17th, 18th and 19th respectively, was Nick Wendl (Milwaukee, WI/Wisconsin Lutheran), Jonah Block (Whitefish Bay, Wis./Whitefish Bay), and Rhett Reuter (Darlington, Wis./Darlington). The Men's open was rounded out by Aiden Johnson, Tommy Conklin (West Bend, Wis./East),Braden Eckman (Lake Zurich, IL), Will MacCudden (Slinger, Wis./Slinger), and Brandon Massman (Belvidere, Ill./North).

The Women's Open team placed 13th. Kayla Fogarty (Holt, MI), Nicole Brown (Grayslake, IL), Abby Motz (New Berlin, WI/Eisenhower), Kayla Lemke, Kristan Larson (Rio, Wis./Rio), Mollie Bennett (Cambridge, Ill./Cambridge), Gillian Thompson (Cambridge, WI), Annika Burchell (DeKalb, Ill./DeKalb), and Kayleigh Thomas (Dixon, Ill./Dixon) also competed in the open for the Warhawks. 

The Men's and Women's Cross Country teams will spend the next two weeks preparing for the Augustana Interregional Invitational on October 14th.