By Leeroy Francis Jr. |Sports editorThe Augusta University men and women opened the 2018 cross country season with impressive performances Saturday, Sept. 8 at the Bulldog Invitational at the UGa. Golf Course in Athens.AU's men took third behind Georgia Tech and host Georgia, and the Jaguar women were fifth in their race.For the men in the competition, AU sophomore Jacob Poston placed fifth individually. Poston completed the 7,600-meter course in 24 minutes, 34 seconds. Poston was the first NCAA Division II athlete to cross the line.Jaguar sophomore Hunter Kimball and senior Noah Hulett finished behind Poston for AU, posting times of 25:03.8 and 25:59.4. Overall, Kimball was 11th and Hulett 26th, respectively.They were followed in by freshmen Jacob Brenneman, Rakeem Littles, Hans Troyer, Kai Brickey, Chris Shelp, Josh Seiden, Ryan Gallagher, Anthony Urmetz, Dalton Ard and Chris Strickland, who all were taking part in their first competition as collegiate athletes.For the women, sophomore Micah Weathers led the Jags, finishing 18th overall. Weathers posted a time of 21:59.6 on the 5,500-meter UGa. course. Junior McKenzie Knudsen and graduate student Helen Rendich finished second and third for the Jaguars. They posted times of 22:52.5 and 24:16.1 to finish 30th and 44th, respectively. Sophomore Sinead O'Bryant, junior Rachel Hammesfahr and freshman Madison Congdon also competed.Weathers was named Peach Belt Conference women's cross country runner of the week.The next event for the AU cross country teams is the Jaguar Cross Country Invitational at the Redcliffe Plantation State Historic Site in Beech Island, S.C. That will be on Saturday, Sept. 15 at 8:45 am. For more information, contact Leeroy Francis at lfrancis@augusta.edu