WINFIELD, Kan. — The Butler women's cross country team opened the 2018 season with a pair of top-15 placers Saturday morning at the Tiger-Builder Invite, held on the campus of Southwestern College.

Grizzlies freshmen Claudina Constantine and Hilda Kipruto placed 11th and 14th, respectively. Constantine finished the 5K course with a top Butler individual time of 20:48.47, while Kipruto was just under 30 seconds behind at 21:17.40.

Sophomore Tara Mayes (23:12.09) and freshman Taylor Johnson (23:57.37) finished back-to-back at 23rd and 24th.

"I think the women did fairly good for the season opener," Butler head cross country coach Dustin Mettler said. "We all came in out of shape, so we're just getting back into it and getting the feel of new training that the freshman haven't had before."

Butler did not field a complete team for the first race of the season and had just four runners at the event, which had just five teams (Jayhawk schools Cowley and Fort Scott; NAIA schools Southwestern and Kansas Wesleyan) participating. Cowley won the meet with 21 points, taking the top three individual spots and placing all five top runners in the top 10.

The Grizzlies will next be in action in two weeks at the Missouri Southern Invitational on Sept. 15 in Joplin, Mo.