The Valparaiso men’s and women’s cross country teams opened their seasons with the 27^th annual Crusader Open on a warm Friday afternoon at Sunset Hills Farm.  

In the women’s 5K, junior Liz Bloy (Freedom, Wis./Freedom) put forth a strong showing, finishing in 12th place overall with a time of 19:33.0. Junior Tori Tamburrino (West Dundee, Ill./Jacobs) crossed the line at 20:36.9 while sophomore Kim Heiny (Burnettsville, Ind./Twin Lakes) rounded out the top three for the Brown and Gold with a 20:51.7 finish. 

In the men’s 6K, junior Adam Bruno (Bloomington, Ill./University) paced the Crusaders with a 20:00.2 to post a 13th-place finish. Juniors Max Morello (Plano, Ill./Plano) and Dan Walters (Crown Point, Ind./Crown Point) finished in the top 42 with times of 20:15.7 and 20:25.9, respectively, to guide the Crusaders.

Purdue claimed both team titles Friday. Hope Schmeizie (17:46.8) and Jeremy Craven (18:44.6) broke the tape for individual championships in the women's and men's races, respectively. 

The Crusaders return to action September 19th at the Friendship Invitational in Cedarville, Ohio.