Placing sixth place overall out of 20 teams, the Men’s Cross Country team wrapped up their regular season on Saturday, Oct. 12 at the Watson Ford Cross Country Invitational.

Hayden Ricca, psychology junior, was the first Loyola runner to cross the finish line, setting a new record.

“I was happy with my performance, but I didn’t put too much emphasis on it,” Ricca said. “I knew we had bigger goals later in the season. Nearly everyone ran a personal record. That was a great indication that we were gaining fitness.”

Hoping to win the conference race coming up, Ricca saw this meet as a stepping stone.

“We looked at this meet as a tool to improve our team race strategy leading into our biggest race of the season,” Ricca said. “Personally, my favorite part was the strength of the competition that helped our younger guys learn to improve their 8k races,” Ricca said.

Up against much larger schools, Loyola held their own, according to Walter Ramsey, environmental studies junior.

“Our team did very well,” Ramsey said. “This race was a big improvement from the last race for everyone, which was expected, because we had really been putting the training in. My favorite part of the meet was seeing the team continue to grow closer and really start to take shape of what I thought our program could be”

Practicing since the beginning of the summer, Ramsey felt that this meet was no different than any other meet.

“This race was a really nice checkpoint to see where we were at,” Ramsey said. “Our main focus was still on the conference race coming up.”

The team will continue their stride on Nov. 2 at the SSAC Championship at Oakville Indian Mounds Park in Alabama.