Cleary Cross Country Opens Season at Oakland Golden Grizzlies Open

(Rochester, MI)-- The Cleary University men's and women's cross country teams opened their 2021 season last Friday, when they ran in the Oakland University Golden Grizzlies Open.

In the men's race:  The host, and NCAA division 1, Oakland dominated the top of the leaderboard, but Cleary was able to place two runners in the top 12 of the 6K race.  Donovan White finished in 10th place with a time of 20:03.3, while Ethan Beres was just 10 seconds behind with a time of 20:13.4, which was good enough to finish in 12th place.  Overall, Cleary was able to combine their times and earn 3rd place out of 7.

In the women's race:  Like their male counterparts, the Oakland women dominated the top of the leaderboard, but Cleary's Mallory Tognetti was the first runner from a different school to finish.  Tognetti ran a time of 15:32.9 in her 4K race, which was good enough to finish in 11th place overall.  Abby McClelland was the second Cougar to cross the finish line with a time of 18:13.6.  Cleary only had 4 eligible runners for the race, and therefore did not have a team score.

Both teams will next be in action this Saturday, September 11, when they run in the Concordia University Invitational, which is scheduled to start at 11:00 am.