ST. LOUIS – Saint Louis' men's and women's cross country teams both finished first in the Billiken XC Invitational, which was held on a hot and humid Saturday morning at St. Vincent Park in St. Louis.
 
The Billiken women swept the top-five finishes in the women's 5K. Emily Morden led SLU for the second straight meet, finishing first overall in a time of 18:33.4. Emery Mayfield was next, crossing the finish in 18:36.3.
 
Starr Scott placed third with a time of 19:29.4. Sophia Pelligreen ran her first meet of the season and placed fourth with a time of 19:38.1. Renee Ballard rounded out the scoring for the Billikens with a fifth-place time of 19:38.8.
 
On the men's side, freshman Manny Vela led SLU with an 8K time of 27:22.5 to finish first. Tyler Schweizer was second, crossing in 27:40.1. Lukasz Iwanowski finished fourth overall with a time of 28:29.6. Cooper Bell (fifth, 28:42.3) and John Giricz (seventh, 29:20.2) completed the scoring for the Billikens.
 
SLU is back in action next Friday (Sept. 27) for the Gans Creek Classic at the University of Missouri. Action gets underway at 8 a.m.