Talk about jumping right into the fire.

Both the University of Minnesota Duluth men's and women's cross country teams opened their respective 2012 seasons Friday afternoon in Falcon Heights, Minn. and did so against some of the stiffest competition they could come across all year.

UMD was one of just two non-NCAA I schools that took part in the six-team Oz Memorial meet at the Les Bolstad Golf Course. The Bulldogs finished sixth in both events, which featured the likes of the University of Minnesota, Drake University, South Dakota State University, the University of Northern Iowa and Northern Sun Intercollegiate Conference colleague Minnesota State University-Mankato.

Kaeyln Williams was the top finisher for the Bulldog women, placing 26th overall in a 6K time of 23:39.98 in her collegiate debut while sophomore Alex Rudin (36th; 24:26.12), junior Alyssa Salava (47th; 24:41.37), freshman Hannah Olson (58th; 24.51.33) and sophomore Amanda Boman (24:51.59) were next. Senior team co-captain Cole Toepfer paced the UMD men, completing the 6K race in 19:49.96  to finish 15th out of 67 runners. Sophomore Dan Nielsen (18th; 19:52.51), junior Tyler Stevens (34th; 20:23.58), senior Jason Coffin (36th; 20:27.14) and junior Aaron Handorff (39th; 20:31.58) rounded out the top five Bulldog placers.

The Bulldogs will return to action Sept. 15 to take part in the St. Olaf Invitational in Northfield, Minn.