Bryson City, N.C. --The Western Carolina cross country squads opened the 2025 season with strong individual performances on both sides of the trail. Still, the UNC Asheville Bulldogs took the team wins at the Duel in the Valley. The Catamount men's team saw two top-five finishers in the 6k in Chase Thurber (2nd – 18:57) and freshman Matthias Peterson (5th – 19:12.9), but fell 23-32 to the Bulldogs. The women's team was led by third-place finisher Jessica Connole in the 3k, but lost 19-38 to the Big South foe. 
Thurber and UNC Asheville's top finisher, Jan Malek, fought shoulder-to-shoulder down the final stretch, with the duo being the only runners with sub-19:00 finishes on the men's side in the dual meet. WCU newcomers paced the Catamount team, with three freshmen or transfers ranking within the team's top five finishers (Peterson: 5th – 19:12.9), Bradley White (6th – 19:17.5), and Alexander Ruge (9th - 19:20.3). Returner Matthew Womack rounded out the Catamount scoring five, with a 19:23.0 finish to claim tenth. 

"For the men, super proud of our group. Chase ran even with a really good guy from UNC Asheville, so I'm pretty excited about what that will do for him down the road. He was backed up by a great group of younger guys racing their first race over 5k," said head coach Jesse Norman, who enters his seventh season with the Catamount distance program.  "I believe the future looks pretty bright over the next few years with this group of men."

Outside of the top five, newcomers Eli Clonch (12th – 19:23), Samuel Corso (15th – 19:35.9), Jaleb Saunders (17th – 19:51.9), and Jacob Campbell (21:01.7) made their WCU debuts while returners Noah Luke (18th – 19:57.4) and Peter Schihl (22nd – 21:15.2) made their first appearances of the season. 

Four Catamounts earned top-ten placements in the women's 3k, with Jessica Connole and Katherine Hopkins pacing the group with third and sixth-place finishes of 10:50.1 and 10:50.5, respectively, in a tightly packed top five. Peyton Skoglund (8th – 10:59.2) and Amaya Hicks (9th – 11:04.4) finished out WCU's top-ten finishers, while Braelyn Shae-Wahy (12th – 11:15.9) was the final score for the Catamounts. 

"Good start on both sides, our front group of ladies got out a bit hotter than planned, which we paid for a bit later in the race. However, I'm proud that they put themselves in the mix, we'll continue working on closing the gap and then being able to finish off a full 5k at this type of effort," said coach Norman.

Ashlynn Watkins (16th - 11:26.0), Hannah Kliner (18th – 11:59.4), and Riley McKinney (20th – 11:59.4) were the final WCU finishes on the women's side, with Watkins being the only newcomer to make her Catamount debut. 

After a week in the shop, the Catamount cross country teams will be back in action on September 12, as they travel to the Virginia Invitational in Charlottesville, Va. They'll close out their regular season meets on October 18 as they travel to Spartanburg, S.C., for the Upstate Invitational.