PEORIA, Ill. – The University of Missouri-St. Louis men's and women's cross country teams opened their 2022 seasons at the Bradley Intercollegiate at Detweiller Park in Peoria, Ill. The Triton men posted a third place showing while the Triton women matched their best finish ever as they finished fourth.

Benjamin VandenBrink was UMSL's highest finisher on the men's side as he posted a fourth-place finish in a time of 24:15. Toby Middleton crossed the line at 25:36 to finish 38th while Sam Savastino, Donald Mahoney, Matthias Shelp and Sean Ede finished 37th, 41st, 44th and 45th overall. Savastino finished at 27:04, Mahoney came in at 27:22.1, Shelp was six seconds behind Mahoney at 27:28 and Ede finished at 27:37.9.

Also running for the Tritons were Gavin Love and Michael Wright who finished 51st and 52nd respectively at 28:12 and 28:18. Dylan Forsythe and Ricardo Menjivar came in at 28:55 and 34:40 respectively.

For the women, Kayley Heeter was the top finisher as she crossed the line at 19:31. Peyton Brueck and Megan McMillen finished 25th and 27th overall at 20:21 and 20:51 respectively. Lily Wagemann, Natalie Wiedl and Ella Tynan were 30th, 32nd and 35th with times of 21:13, 21:20 and 21:48.

Also competing for UMSL were Desire Brooks who finished 41st at 22:50, Lauren Bearden-Kyser finished at 23:09 to place 45th and Dominica Rooks came in 49th at 24:45.

The Tritons are back in action next Friday (Sept. 23) as they compete at the McKendree Bearcat Classic in Lebanon at 3 p.m.