A tough, muddy and wet course at the Texas A&M Invitational dealt the Sam Houston State cross-country team an unusual challenge to overcome in the first full meet of the season Saturday.

The race was the first race of the season that had full men’s and women’s squads competing. The men finished ninth in the 6000-meter race while the women finished sixth in a 4000-meter race.

SHSU competed against runners from Southeastern Conference, Big 12 and Southland Conference opponents in Texas A&M, Baylor, Texas Tech, Lamar, Stephen F. Austin, Texas State and A&M Corpus Christi.

Freshman Grant Buley finished 35th overall for the men and was the first runner to finish the course for SHSU with a total elapsed time of 19:23. Senior Karl Schreiber finished right behind in 36th place, coming in just a second after Buley with a time of 19:24.

Following Schreiber was senior Ryan Saam who at 60th overall and had a time of 20:03. Closely behind him was junior Logan Terry in 65th place with a time of 20:20. Freshman Colton Stoker finished just two close seconds later and ended up in 66th place with a time of 20:22.

Senior Patrick Pitts finished in 68th place with a time of 20:34. While sophomores Even Arambula and junior JT Bounds finished 71st and 75th with times of 21:10 and 21:23, respectively.

The men finished ninth overall as a team.

“Unfortunately, the team didn’t perform well,” Schreiber said. “We’re going to focus on quality training and pushing workouts to help handle our pace during the upcoming races. All in all, our progress looks promising.”

The women ended the meet sixth overall.

The top finisher for the SHSU was sophomore Olivia Olguin. She finished in 19th place with an elapsed time of 15:04. Sophomore Miranda Prado ended 25th with a time of 15:16, junior Ana Moreno 29th at 15:22, senior Nicole Aponte 35th at 15:31, freshman Cassidy Allen 45th at 15:49 and freshman Nina Gonzales 52nd at 16:25.

SHSU will next compete at the Corpus Christi Islander Splash on Friday.