The Butler cross country completed the busy weekend earning top finishes against top-ranked programs at the Bradley Pink Classic and Wisconsin Pre-Nationals. Wiktoria Klebowska and William Zegarski shined bright with Klebowska earning a top-5 finish at Bradley while Zegarski took 14th in a loaded field at Wisconsin.

On Friday, the Bulldog women placed sixth out of 32 teams in the 6K at Peoria, Ill. while the men followed the next day earning 16th in the 8K against some of the top-ranked programs in the country.

Wiktoria Klebowska had herself a day, leading the way for the Bulldogs in the women's "Red" invite claiming fourth at 20:22.12. Her mark scratched 16 seconds off her personal best. 

Hannah Moore was the next Bulldog to finish posting a time of 21:03.98 in 26th. Moore was only just the third freshman to cross the line.

Ashlyn Minton and Kylie Cline each set new lifetime bests with Minton earning 40th at 21:12.28 while Cline recorded a mark of 21:30.68 in 62nd. The last Bulldog to score was Renate Toldo 73rd at 21:40.15. 

Northwestern would claim the team title with the help from senior Ava Earl who won the race at 20:14.33.
 
Saturday morning was filled with adversity for the Bulldogs on the Zimmer Championship course in Madison, Wis., which will soon be host to the NCAA Championships.

The team began the race without top runner Jesse Hamlin, who was a late scratch from the race. At the 2K mark, Florian Le Pallec also fell behind after a lost shoe cost him crucial seconds while trying to put it back on. 

Despite the hardships, William Zegarski ran an incredible race crossing the finish line in 14th at 23:08.1. Zegarski was just the second sophomore across the line while also setting a new personal best.

Austin Gabay would be the next to cross the line in 61st at 23:36.9. Le Pallec followed in 92nd 23:48.0 after powering through the shoe delay earlier in the race.

David Slapak and Luke Henseler were the last Bulldogs to score with Slapak taking 127th at 24:09.0 and Henseler finishing in 141st at 24:15.8. 

Rounding the Bulldog competitors included Sean Byrnes (171st, 24:27.3), Martin Kovacech (202nd, 24:56.2), and Joe Barrett (217th, 24:58.9).

The only other sophomore to finish ahead of Zegarski was New Mexico's Habtom Samuel who won the race at 22:33.8

Butler would inevitably place 16th out of 32 teams with a score of 435. Despite the hardships, the Bulldogs still finished just 28 points out of 11th place and were ahead of programs ranked above them in the USTFCCCA Coaches Poll including No. 13 Michigan and No. 14 Washington. 

The Bulldogs will return to action in two weeks for the BIG EAST Cross Country Championships in Leesburg, Va. hosted by Georgetown on Nov. 1.