REDLANDS, Calif. — Cross country season got underway on Saturday for the La Verne Leopards at the Redlands Invitational and despite contending with high temperatures, several runners beat their personal bests over last season at the same course with the men winning the meet. The women finished third.

The goal for the Leopards at the first meet was to run as a team and head coach Bryan George felt the team did just that.

"Our biggest goal today was to emphasize pack running and I was pleased with the way both team executed the race plan," George said.

The men were paced by Bryan Hayes and Tanner Long, who finished second and fourth, respectively. Hayes finished the 6,000-meter race in 19 minutes, 11.86 seconds, a 19-second improvement over his previous personal best. Long beat his personal record by 18 seconds as he crossed the line in 19:30.36.

Jayden Earlywine and Alec Franco joined Hayes and Long in the top 10 for the men. Earlywine crossed the line in 20:00.14 to take ninth and freshman Franco was right behind at 20:05.34 to finish 10^th.

On the women's side, Andrea Ramirez was the top Leopard in 10^th place. The senior was almost a minute faster than her personal record last year, finishing the 4,500-meter course in 17:43.03.

Andrea Valdez finished 23^rd with a time of 19:36.15 and Sarah Chang also finished in the top 30 at 20:08.51 in her collegiate debut.

The men's team totaled 37 points to claim the team win while the women registered 85 points as a team.

La Verne returns to action next Saturday at the adidas/UC Irvine Invitational.

"It was good to keep things low-key in our first competition," George said. "We'll need to carry over some of the positive things we saw today against a bigger field next weekend at the adidas/UC Irvine Invitational."