(August 30, 2008 - Holland, Mich.) -- The 2008 cross country season began this past weekend as the Concordia harriers headed to the west side of the state to participate in the Vanderbilt Invitational hosted by Hope College. Kris Koster was the first man to cross at 25:52, while the host school's Matt Wiersum was the first collegian to finish as he was 35 seconds behind the leader to finish third overall. Jim Abrams was Concordia's first runner as he crossed the line at 28:25 to finish 35th overall. On the women's side, Gwendolyn Vanderworp was the first Cardinal woman to cross as her time of 22:06 was good for 32nd overall.

Concordia only had two female runners in the women's 5k race, with Sarah Card making her collegiate debut, finishing with a time of 25:59 good for 49th overall.

In addition to Abrams, the Cardinals had six other men participate in the event with Ryan Burmeister finishing with a time of 30:56 (55th place) in his first college race. Other Concordia runners were: Tyler Case (31:43 - 60th), Philip Brown (31:52 - 61st), Michael Haiderer (32:09 - 63rd), Steven Lestock (33:42 -  67th) and Sam Bruer (33:52 - 68th).

Overall, the host Flying Dutchmen earned the victory in both the men's and women's race while the Cardinal men finished in fourth behind Cornerstone University and Albion College. With not enough runners fielded on the women's side, the Cardinals only had individual runners and weren't considered for the team portion.

All in all, head coach Steve Montgomery was pleased with the effort from many first-time runners and feels that the team will continue to improve throughout the season.