The men’s and women’s cross country teams hosted the WIAC championships Saturday and came out seventh and fourth, respectively, out of nine teams.

“Overall, I don’t think we did very well,” freshman Ted Lillie said of the men’s performance.

“I really think we need to turn it around before regionals. And I think that’s something we can do.”

He said the team did poorly at the conference meet last season but came through at the regional competition.

“We’ve been gearing up for the regionals,” Lillie said. “(This meet) doesn’t make or break us.”

Lillie said he thinks the Blugolds are in the toughest conference. UW-Oshkosh is the highest-ranked team in the nation, and the highest-ranked individual, Ryan Kleimenhagen, runs with UW-Platteville.

The men’s top runner Saturday was senior Matt Goertz, who finished in 34th place with a time of 26:14. Junior Micah Hernandez was the second Blugold to finish, taking 41st place overall with a time of 26:24. Junior Jake Ebner was the third Blugold to cross the line, with a time of 26:37, good for 48th place.

The women also faced tough competition. They finished fourth behind the third, fourth and eighth nationally ranked teams of UW-Stevens Point, Oshkosh and UW-La Crosse.

Senior Sarah Kasabian saw the bright side of things.

“I think for us to finish fourth behind those nationally ranked teams is amazing,” she said. “I’m proud of everyone, how they stepped up and performed well.”

Kasabian, who is the second runner for the Blugolds, said she didn’t feel that she ran her best, but that the team made up for it.

“A couple of girls really stepped up and filled in the gaps,” she said. “We did pretty well as a team.”

The top Blugold finisher was senior Melissa Wright, with a seventh place spot in a time of 22:38, followed by freshman Korah Petrasko in 20th place with a time of 23:08.

Sophomore Jeanine Twomey came in with a 30th place finish, at 23:30.

“I think we ran well,” said Twomey. “We’ve been pretty consistent with being close to the top teams.”

The Blugolds will next host the NCAA regionals Nov. 15. Thirty-eight teams compete at the meet, and the top four move on to the nationals.

Kasabian said she expects the women to finish well.

“I believe our team can be one of those four,” she said.