The trail season is officially open for McMaster's runners, as the Marauder cross country teams travelled to Buffalo for the University of New York at Buffalo's annual Stampede meet on Saturday, September 12.

Fielding teams without several of their star runners, the Marauders enjoyed breakout performances from a number of younger athletes, which bodes well for the depth of the program moving forward.

On the men's side, the team missed the Forbes brothers, who will compete in the World Triathlon Championships in Chicago on September 16, as well as veteran Blair Morgan, who sat out to prepare for the Canadian National Road Racing Championships in Toronto.

In their place, veteran Connor Darlington led the scoring for McMaster by placing seventh, while sophomore Evan Ubene enjoyed his best performance to date, finishing 16th to score second for the Marauders, who finished third as a team.

Nick Kondrat and Frank Sorbara finished in quick succession in 19th and 21st to score third and fourth for the Marauders, while Luke Charbonneau (25th), Jeff Tweedle (27th), Christian MacGillivray (32nd), Jonathan Favero (39th), Alex Green (43rd) and Ivan Meiszinger (44th) rounded out the McMaster results on the men's side.

Perennial low post Maddy McDonald was missing from the Marauder women's team on Saturday, but fellow veteran Chelsea Mackinnon led McMaster to fourth in the team standings with an 18th-placed finish. Teammates Gabby Foran and Emily Nowak crossed the line back-to-back in 22nd and 23rd, while Lauren Locco (33rd), Erin Mawhinney (37th) and Alison Head (41st) completed the scoring.

McMaster returns to competition on Saturday, September 26, when they travel to London to take part in the Western International.