CLINTON, Miss. – McMurry Women's Cross Country scored an impressive win after the men's team placed sixth against a range of NCAA competitors Friday morning at the Watson Collegiate Classic.
 
"The men's and women's teams are coming to form just in time for the postseason," said McMurry head coach Corey Koch. "I'm sure that today's races are the fastest top-five average times for men and women in McMurry history."
 
The women's team finished in 1:58:31 with an average of 23:42 and the men's top five finished in 2:11:43 with an average time of 26:20.
 
Chloe McLellan, Savanna Danner and Ashley Shea finished 5-6-7 for the War Hawks with Katelyn Hernandez in 24^th and Anna Dinaso in 35^th to finish the scoring. McLellan ran the six kilometers in a personal-best 23:11.9 with Danner at 23:13.6 and Shea at 23:14.4.
 
Hernandez finished in 24:18.8 and Dinaso in 24:32.8.
 
Madison Soultanova was 83^rd at 25:57.5, Jocelyn Moreno was 93^rd at 26:16.8 and Abigail Huffhines ran the course in 27:12.0.
 
"The women packed up from the start and we had three women in the top 10," said Koch. "To win by 20 against D1 and D2 schools is an excellent confidence booster going into the conference."
 
The War Hawk women won with 77 points, holding off Rhodes at 97, Union (D-2) at 98 and Louisiana Tech among others in the 26-team field.
 
McMurry's men finished with 182 points. Host Mississippi College won the men's race with 39 points.
 
Gabriel Sanchez led the McMurry men in 26^th place, finishing the eight kilometers in 26.01.4. Roman Perez clocked in at 26:05.9 for 30^th and Isaac Gonzales was 31^st at 26:06.0.
 
Rogelio Ramirez finished in 47^th at 26:30.2 and Jeremiah Rodriguez rounded out the scoring in 65^th at 26:59.9. Patrick Esparza finished in 27:16.8 and Antonio Martinez at 27:34.5. Also, for the War Hawks, Kevin Gomez finished in 28:18.3 and Jonathan Alter in 28:44.0.
 
"The men are finally healthy and they have shown it," Koch said. "It's great to have five guys under 27 and all within a minute of each other."
 
The meet was the final tune-up before the War Hawks head to Shreveport on Nov. 2 for the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Meet.