A strong start to the season continued for the Butler women’s cross country team, as the Bulldogs followed their season-opening victory at the Illini Challenge with a runner-up finish at the Indiana Intercollegiate Meet on Sept. 16.

Butler had to navigate through a field of 21 teams. Host Indiana came out victorious in the women’s race, scoring just 19 points. The Bulldogs’ 63 points left them 15 points ahead of Purdue.

Junior Lauren McKillop was Butler’s top finisher in the contest. Also the first non-Hoosier runner to finish, McKillop completed the 5-kilometer course in a time of 17:59.

The top seven runners for the Bulldogs finished within the top 30 overall. Junior Becky Howarth made her way to a 10th place finish, stopping the clock at 18:11. Freshman Mara Olson and sophomore Shelbi Burnett were the next runners in for Butler, taking 14th and 15th place, respectively.

Senior Lauren Haberkorn (22nd), junior Kaitlyn Love (23rd) and junior Alyson Fosnot (27th) rounded out the Bulldogs’ top seven.

The Butler men did not fare as well in their 8-kilometer race at the Intercollegiates. Led by freshman Tom Curr’s 16th place finish, the Bulldogs grabbed 12th place out of 21 teams.

Curr’s time of 25:34 slotted him 20 places ahead of the next Butler finisher, junior Kevin Oblinger. Freshmen David Ford (45th) and Kodi Mullins (71st) and senior Orion Wenrich (108th) rounded out the Bulldogs’ top five runners.

Purdue was the champion of the men’s race with 35 points. Butler finished with 258 points.

The Bulldogs will head north on Saturday to compete in the Roy Griak Invitational in Minneapolis.