The men’s and women’s cross country teams both saw individual wins at their first meet of the season Sept. 1 in Little Rock.

Graduate student Philipp Haessner and junior Sara Steimel both found first place results in the 5K, with Haessner earning a personal record.

“I am very happy with my result. For me, the goal was to win this meet and bring the team forward.” Haessner said.

Haessner’s time was 15:46.1 and Steimel 18:59.9.

Both the men’s and women’s teams had four personal bests by their runners. For the men: Haessner, sophomore Bresner Austin, freshman Beau Melancon and freshman Hayden Boyett. For the women: freshmen Sequoyah Prentice, Zadie St. Louis, Esperanza Trejo and sophomore Isabel Lynch.

The Thursday meet marked the first for Coach Josey Weaver since arriving at UCA in July.

“It was a great learning step for me and evaluation of the team. Like all early season meets there was some good and some bad,” Weaver said.

Weaver said he was happy with the results, but wished the men’s team had beat the University of Arkansas at Little Rock, but that performance in late October will be more important than now. The women’s team placed second, behind Arkansas State University and ahead of UALR, while the men’s team placed third, behind ASU and UALR.

Weaver is still getting to know the team and said the first meet was an exciting one.

Haessner said he is happy about Weaver joining the team.

“[Weaver] was a very good long-distance runner in college as well, therefore he understands what an athlete needs during and around practice. [Weaver] will build up a great program and I am happy to be part of it,” Haessner said.

Haessner and Weaver had planned out how Haessner would run the race ahead of time.

“I ran the first two laps with the front pack and made a move before the last hill. So I could win … without working too hard,” Haessner said.

Steimel told UCA Sports she thought the team worked well together and is excited to have Weaver on the team.

It is important for the team to work on each individual, Weaver said, including himself.

After the first meet, Weaver said he thinks “the future is very bright for our women’s team.”

Weaver said the women’s team is on the younger side while the men’s team is on the older side. This means that the men’s team will soon see more of their roster graduating out of the program, while the women’s team has more long-term individuals.

Looking forward to the rest of the semester, Haessner said, “I hope to break the cross country 8k and 10k school record.”

Haessner said the biggest goal is a “top performance at conference and regionals.”

The cross country team will next meet at Beaver Fork Lake on Saturday, Sept. 10, just over four miles from campus. Both races will be 5Ks, the men starting at 8:45 a.m. and the women at 9:20.