It felt like old times for Richard Bouckaert and Matt Cagigal as they looked over the results at the Rhodes Invitational Sunday in Memphis, Tenn.They once again placed in the top 10 of a runner’s field at a meet, something they’ve yet to do since their 2004 GCAC championship season – since then, Hurricane Katrina devastated both the Gulf Coast region and any chance of a normal season in 2005, and a flipped truck on Interstate 10 kept them from debuting at Mobile, Ala., three weeks ago. Bouckaert, history junior, tore through the 8-killometer race in 27 minutes, 43 seconds to finish seventh overall.Cagigal, finance sophomore, placed 10th at 27:53.Mary Erin Imwalle, mass communication sophomore, spearheaded the Lady ‘Pack, logging in a 21:10 finish time and securing a 21st place finish.

CROSS COUNTRY RETURNS Loyola made its return to the cross country field the weekend of Sept. 23, placing four runners in the top 50 at the LSU Invitational. As a team, the women finished 9th in the 6-k run, while the men failed to place due to an insufficient amount of runners.”Most of us ran cross country at out-of-state schools last year,” Imwalle said. “But it’s good to be back on a Louisiana team.”Cagigal led Loyola’s men in the 8-k race with his 28:31.85 time, finishing 11th. Less than a minute later, Bouckaert crossed the line, placing 18th with his 29:16.84 time. The third and final member of Loyola’s squad, marketing freshman Tyler Kaufman, ended up at 50th with his 38:54.83 time.”It was my first run, so it was a little rough getting used to,” Kaufman said. “I could have run better. I just need to pace myself.”Pacing was especially difficult for the team Saturday. The field, with its hilly landscape and soggy ground, didn’t make it any easier to shake off the inevitable rust. “The races were also almost 1,000 meters longer than we were used to,” said Imwalle, who led Loyola’s women’s with her 26:38.65 time.She finished 41st overall.Psychology junior Rebecca Reed followed Imwalle in 52nd place with a time of 31:46 finishing in 67th place. Then a succession of Loyola runners finished the course, with biology senior Rachel Nuwer’s 31:53.42, pyschology junior Emily Reed’s 32:31.24, and mass communication senior Jenna Harris’ 33:11.03 rounding out the top 70. The final Loyola runner, Spanish senior Annie McBride finished 72nd at 35:33.91.

Chad Bower can be reached at [email protected]. Ramon Vargas can be reached at [email protected].