COLUMBIA, Mo. – It was a successful start to the Billikens 2025 cross country season as SLU turned in quality performances at the Mizzou Opener on Friday morning at the Gans Creek Cross Country Course in Columbia.

"This was about the best start to a cross country season as we could have planned for," SLU head coach Jon Bell said. "Our women ran significantly faster than we did a year ago. Not only that, but our 1-5 and 1-7 spreads, which are critical to team scoring, were some of the best in program history. The same can be said for the men. Even though we never run 5K for the men, they ran extremely well. They beat some really talented athletes from Oregon and Wisconsin.  Our 1-5 spread was only 16 seconds, which might be the best we've ever had.

"Individually, Starr Scott was outstanding today, the best cross country race she's ever run in a Billiken jersey. Renee Ballard ran faster for 5K today on the grass than she did last spring on the track. Brady Huggins pulled off that same feat for the men."

Starr Scott's 5K time of 18:03 led the Billikens and was a significant jump in time from last year's race on the same course. She placed 15th overall.

Also scoring for the women was Emery Mayfield, Emily Morden, Renee Ballard and Clara Gillen.

The women's team placed third behind Missouri and Arkansas.

The Billikens' top five scorers on the men's side all finished in the top 20, with Manny Vela out front with a time of 15:06.4, good for ninth. Aleksandr Acuna and Ronnie Brown followed for the Bills, giving SLU a top three of underclassmen. Brady Huggins and Lukasz Iwanowski rounded out the scoring for Saint Louis.

The men's team placed second to Missouri and finished ahead of Oregon and Wisconsin.

SLU is back in action on Friday, Sept. 19, for the Bradley Intercollegiate in Peoria, Ill.