Springfield, Mo. – The SBU women's cross country team returned to action Saturday morning competing at the Queen City Invitational. The Bearcats took second in the meet only behind Division I Missouri State, with a score of 41 points.

Leading all runners in the race was Bearcat sophomore and reigning GLVC freshman of the year, Natalie Gerdes. Her time of 17:47 was five seconds ahead of the second place runner from Drury. Not far behind Gerdes and staying in the top-five was senior Olivia Littleton in 4th place with a time of 18:03. 

Staying in the top-10 was freshman Gracie Troester in 10th place with a time of 18:26. Six seconds behind her was fellow teammate and junior Lily Hunsucker in 11th place. The power combo of Gerdes, Littleton, Troester, and Hunsucker beat all Division-II runners on the day except for one. 

The Bearcats will get a week off before heading up to Wisconsin to compete at the Lucian Rosa meet on September 27th. This will be the same course that Regionals and Nationals are hosted at to give the Bearcats knowledge of the course.