Oct. 28, 2006
The UTPA men's cross country team finished fourth overall while the Lady Broncs recorded a sixth-place showing at the National Independent Cross Country Championships hosted by IPFW in Fort Wayne, IN, on Saturday (Oct. 26).
Despite running in horrible conditions on a wet and sloppy course, Luis Nava (La Joya, TX/La Joya H.S.) proved to be the Broncs' top runner as the UTPA sophomore finished 14th overall after crossing the end line in 26:37.40 in the 8,000-meter race.
Nava was in the midst of a top-10 finish at the National Independent Cross Country Championships, but slipped coming around a bend towards the end of the race. Even with the mishap, Nava still earned a top-15 finish and led the Broncs to a fourth-place showing.
Juan Davila (Donna, TX/Donna H.S.) earned his first top-20 showing at the National Independent Cross Country Championships as he finished 19th overall with a time of 26:59.50 while Alex Moncivais (Pharr, TX/Texas A&M-Kingsville) finished three spots back of his teammate in 22nd place after crossing the end line at the 27:10.10 mark.
Newcomer Omar Doria (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg North H.S.) finished 24th overall with a time of 27:24.00 in the 8,000-meter race while J.J. Hernandez (San Juan, TX/PSJA North H.S.) concluded his second trip to the National Independent Cross Country Championships in 27:52.00 en route to earning 33rd-place accolades.
UC-Davis captured the National Independent Cross Country Championship with a total team score of 35 points while North Dakota State (38), South Dakota State (106), UTPA (112) and Utah Valley State (127) rounded out the top five.
"Overall, this was our best performance of the season," said head coach Ricky Vaughn. "Our top three runners ran a tremendous race, and we still need some of our runners to step up, but they ran tough on a course that was as bad as we've seen."
The Lady Broncs finished sixth overall among the nine-team championships and were led by Carolina Izaguirre (Brownsville, TX/Hanna H.S.), who earned 23rd-place honors with a time of 23:31.20 in the 6,000-meter race - which was the eighth fastest time in program history.
Sonya Rivera (Brownsville, TX/Hanna H.S.) finished one-spot back of her teammate in 24th place with a time of 23:38.80 while Ashley Perez (Falfurrias, TX/Falfurrias H.S.) crossed the end line in 23:48.00 en route to earning 26th-place honors.
Rose Escovedo (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg North H.S.) crossed the finish line in 34th place with a time of 24:26.40 in the 6,000-meter race while Karla Hernandez (Edinburg, TX/Edinburg H.S.) posted a time of 25:04.10 and earned 36th-place laurels.
South Dakota State won the women's title at the National Independent Cross Country Championships with a total team tally of 55 while IPFW (58), UC-Davis (64), Utah Valley State (66) and North Dakota State (142) rounded out the top five. UTPA finished with a team score of 143 earning the Lady Broncs sixth-place laurels.
"The women ran a solid race, and the previous day, we had some of our runners get banged up because of the conditions of the course. I think that if we were 100 percent healthy then we would've had a better showing, but our athletes showed a lot of heart, and I was pleased with their effort," added Vaughn.
The Broncs and Lady Broncs will both be back in action at the NCAA Division I South Central Regional Championships hosted by Baylor on Nov. 11th in Waco, TX.
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