Aurora, Ill. – Wheaton's men's and women's cross country team each posted first-place finishes on Friday at Aurora University's Spartan Cross Country Classic.

Wheaton's men's scored 29 points to win the men's competition, a group of Wheaton freshman ran as a unit to score 40 points in second place, Waubonsie Valley Community College took third with 74 points, Concordia (Wis.) was fourth with 113 points and Concordia (Chicago) was fifth with 146 points.

Thunder men took the top four spots in the individual standings. Wheaton senior Brian Wurtz won the men's race with a time of 26:06.2, freshman Mark Phillips was second with a time of 26:25.1, fellow freshman Nate Hatton posted a time of 26:31.2 and Jacob Goertz was fourth in 26:36.9. Freshman Todd Vankerhoff was sixth in 26:44.4, Jimmy Greene was seventh in 26:49.5 and Collin Christensen was ninth in 26:55.2.

The Wheaton women scored 27 points in a first-place effort, Carthage was second with 52 points, Concordia (Wis.) was third with 134 points, and Aurora was fourth with 163 points.

Wheaton's Jennifer Parisi (PICTURED) won the men's race, Sara Greeley was second, Abby Mitchell finished seventh and Jennifer Bowles finished eighth. Senior Sarah Beasley was ninth, Martha Bentz finished in 10th-place and Kristen Miller took 11th place. (We apologize, but we currently do not have times available for the women's race. We hope to post those as soon as possible.)