VALPARAISO, Ind. – The No. 16 ranked Notre Dame women and the No. 8 Irish men opened up the 2025 cross country season on Friday evening at the Winrow Valparaiso Open with a pair of team victories. The women turned in a team score of 50 to finish ahead of Purdue (52) and Valparaiso (97) while the men had a team score of 23 for the first-place spot ahead of Purdue (64) and Valparaiso (76).
Emmelin Mucharsky took first place overall while competing unattached after running a 16:39.48 in the 5k race. Chloe Huyler and Helen Sachs also competed unattached and came second (16:51.84) and third (17:07.04), respectively.
Reagan Riley was fourth overall and was the first scoring runner of the meet for the Irish in fourth place with a time of 17:11.31. Addison Knoblauch was fifth overall with a time of 17:19.59.
Elena Rybak ran unattached and placed seventh with a 17:41.17. Nicki Southerland, meanwhile, ran a 17:48.22 to finish ninth overall. Grace Schager turned in a time of 17:55.30 for tenth, and Kaleigh Gunsiorowski wrapped up the team win with an 18:12.53 for 12th place.
Benji Anderson competed unattached on the men’s side and captured first place in the 6k race with a time of 17:44.61.
Jason Parra was the first scoring runner across the finish line for the Irish and placed second overall with a 17:47.66. Ryan Pajak and Jack Henzke finished back-t0-back in third and fourth with times of 17:57.40 and 18:01.65, respectively.
Jack Bertram competed unattached and was fifth after posting an 18:02.22.
Colin Whitaker ran an 18:02.86 to place sixth overall. Riku Sugie ran unattached and turned in a time of 18:13.19 for seventh overall.
Brody Hartley closed out the team win with a 18:14.21 for eighth place overall.
Next up for the Irish will be the National Catholic Invitational, which takes place on Friday, September 19.