The Wichita State men’s and women’s cross-country teams won their first meet of the season at the Butler County Triangular on the Wartick Farm.

The Butler County Community College women’s team competed against the Shocker women, while the men competed against Cowley Community College.

WSU coach Steve Rainbolt was proud of the teams and said he felt both teams ran well.

“It was a low key event,” Rainbolt said. “It was really more of a time trial.”

Rainbolt said the cross country season usually starts with small, local events.

“We were not looking past this meet, but we were looking forward to next week when the the Shockers host the JK Gold Classic at The Raft in Augusta,” Rainbolt said.

The women’s team placed first through 12th, 14th and 17th in the 3K.

“I felt like a couple runners stepped up and trained well over the summer and did a good job,” Rainbolt said.

Junior college transfer Ebeissa Nyandwi won the women’s meet with a time of 11:11.26. This was Nyandwi’s first time running for WSU.

Rainbolt said he felt the men’s team also ran well despite some of the team’s top runners not running due to injuries. Sophomore Edwin Serem from Butler won the meet with a time of 13:11.22, seven seconds ahead of WSU senior Chris Burnett. who finished second. Shocker Sophomore Brady Johnson finished third , just ten tenths of a second behind Burnett with a time of 13:18.94.