SAN BERNADINO, Calif. - The first races of the year are in the books for the Concordia University Irvine cross country teams as the Golden Eagles competed at the Coyote Challenge on Saturday with some fine performances.

Among the standouts, Ania Kapustka debuted for the CUI women's team and led the way with an impressive third place finish. She finished the 5K course in just under 5 minutes and 50 seconds. 

A pack of four Golden Eagles rounded out the top five for the Green and Gold as veterans Emily Littlefield and Audrey Barcenas, newcomer Olivia Reed and returning All-Conference performer Elizabeth King all finished in the Top 15.  The CUI women placed second as a team out of seven competing schools.

Adamara Esparza, Lizbeth Garcia and Mariza Chavez were separated by just three seconds, followed by Maleah Kanayama, Kimberly Cerny and Isabelle Albaladejo with Elizabeth Smorick in hot pursuit.

CLICK HERE for the full CUI women's cross country schedule

On the men's side of things, the first Golden Eagle to cross the finish line was Spencer Handorf who placed 11th overall. Dante Maldonado (18th) and Gavin Hellerstedt (22nd) were not far behind.  Freshman Owen Stults and Logan Jones rounded out the top five finishers for Concordia, followed closely by Jonathan Warrick, Nathan Nguyen and Tyler Renteria. Marcus Shin and Bryce Philbeck also joined freshman Gavin Crocker with getting their first race of the semester under their belt.  Overall, the CUI men finished in fourth place at the Coyote Challenge.

Both CUI squads will now gear up for their next race - the Biola Invitational - which is slated for this coming Friday morning on Sept. 12 in Fullerton.  It will be ladies first at 8:45 a.m. and then the men race at 9:30 a.m. PT.

CLICK HERE for the full CUI men's cross country schedule