The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater men's and women's cross country programs finished first in the team's first competition of the season. The Warhawk men topped the six-team leaderboard while the women were first of five squads at the North Central College Invite Friday evening. 

Five Warhawk men finished among the top ten at the invite led by Keegan Bratt's (Waukesha, Wis./West) runner-up time of 25:49.20. The race came down to the wire with Bratt crossing the line just one-tenth of a second back from the lead. Brandon Gang (Waukesha, Wis./West) claimed bronze with a time of 25:52.00. 

Jonah Block (Whitefish Bay, Wis./) and Tommy Conklin (West Bend, Wis./East) finished back-to-back in fifth and sixth with times of 26:02.70 and 26:05.10 respectively. Nick Wendl (Milwaukee, Wis./Wisconsin Lutheran) rounded out the UWW runners among the top ten with a time of 26:12.50 to finish in eighth place. 

A trio of Warhawks crossed the line in 11th-13th. Landen Bratt (Waukesha, Wis./West) led the way with a time of 26:20.40 followed by Matt Andreano (26:22.30) and Kody Wassman (Ormsby, Minn./Mountain Lake) (26:27.00). Bryce Faith (Oconomowoc, Wis./) was clocked in 26:28.90 for 15th while Brandon Massman (Belvidere, Ill./North) wrapped up the Warhawks in the top 20 with a 17th place time of 26:37.20. 

Also competing for UWW Friday was Andrew Beyer (Algonquin, Ill./Jacobs) (26:56.30), Ryan Van Dam (Glen Ellen, Ill./Glenbard East) (27:04.70), James Belus (Oconomowoc, Wis./) (27:04.89), Aiden Johnson (27:19.80), Jordan Loferski (Menomonee Falls, Wis./Hamilton) (27:20.00), Adrian Ahuatl (St. Charles, Ill./East) (27:36.00), and Will MacCudden (Slinger, Wis./) (28:20.90). 

Abbey Wedwick (Westby, Wis./) led the Warhawk women turning in a time of 23:44.9 to finish fourth. UW-Whitewater runners secured eight more top 20 finishes at the meet. Ella Hansen (Pewaukee, Wis./) crossed the line in 24:16.1 to finish ninth followed by Carleen Snow's (Rio, Wis./DeForest) 24:23.0 for tenth and Miranda McNally (Downers Grove, Ill./North) was clocked in 24:27.8 for eleventh. 

Marlee Nichols (Burlington, Wis./) (24:29.1), Brinley Everson (24:35.6), Jeana Roscoe (Grayslake, Ill./North) (24:42.5) and Brielle Scoles (Kewaskum, Wis./) (24:42.5) swept 13th through 16th places. Nicole Brown (Grayslake, Ill./) rounded out the top 20 finishers with a time of 24:56.3 to finish 19th. 

Also representing the UW-Whitewater women were Jocelyn Ramirez (Jefferson, Wis./) (25:13.9), Abby Motz (New Berlin, Wis./Eisenhower) (25:17.4), Kaitlyn Burke (Fort Atkinson, Wis./) (25:35.0), Kayla Fogarty (Holt, Mich./) (26:00.9), Mollie Bennett (Cambridge, Ill./) (27:52.2), Bella Delgado (Oak Creek, Wis./) (27:59.0), and Grace Wood (Franklin, Wis./) (29:36.3).