Western Kentucky's cross country program opened a new era Friday, kicking off both the 2019 season and the Tim Sykes tenure for the Hilltopper squads in Nashville.
With just a week of training prior to the season-opening meet, Sykes saw the men’s team take fifth while the women posted a ninth-place team finish at the Belmont Opener.
Savannah Heckman led WKU's women with a 19:51.42 to finish 26th overall in the 96-participant women’s field. Morgan Kannapel crossed second for WKU with a time of 21:15.76 and was followed closely by Jenna Vaughn (21:54.86).
On the men’s side, Emerson Wells and Dedrick Troxell finished within less than two-tenths of a second of each other, finishing 17th and 18th, respectively.