Sept. 20, 2007

The University of Texas-Pan American men's and women's cross country team will travel to College Station, TX, to compete in the Texas A&M Cross Country Invitational hosted by Texas A&M University on Saturday (Sept. 22).

The Broncs and Lady Broncs are coming off a solid performance at the Rice/Texas State Invitational where the Broncs posted three top-10 finishes while the women had a outstanding performance from Brownsville native Carolina Izaguirre (Brownsville, TX/Hanna H.S.).

"I think they are going to perform well," said head men's and women's cross country coach Dennis Darling. "We going into this meet with a lot of expectations, hopefully we can continue competing the way we have in the last two meets."

Junior Luis Nava (La, Joya, TX/La Joya H.S.) and newcomer Angel M. Ramirez (McAllen,TX/McAllen H.S.) have been the Bronc's top runners collecting four top-10 finishes combined.

"Luis has been very consistent in the last two meets. He is one of the best runners on the team. I expect a lot from him and for him to step up and be the leader and to perform like one," said Darling.

McAllen native, Ramirez has made name for himself early in the season collecting sixth place at the Corpus Relays and fifth place at the Rice/Texas State Invitational.

"I'm hoping that Angel will go out in this meet and perform like he's been performing. Angel has been pretty consistent and I think he will do ok," added Darling.

The Lady Broncs will look to improve on their previous meet where they claimed fourth place as a team. Leading the way on the women's side will be Izaguirre, who has been the Lady Broncs' top runner the past two seasons.

"I think the women are going to do well. I think they have done a lot better than they have last year. I'm expecting big performances from Carolina and Shardae. I'm hoping that the women will step up a little more, compete and be focused," Darling concluded.

The University women's field will feature five teams ranked among the top eight of the South Central Region while the men's field sports four teams among the top 10 in the region.

The list of women's teams, with regional rankings, include: Texas A&M (3), Lamar (5), Rice (6), Texas (7), TCU (8), Houston (12), UT-Pan American (13), and Sam Houston State (14).

Regionally ranked teams on the men's side includes: Lamar (3), Texas A&M (4), Sam Houston State (9), Texas-Arlington (10), and UT-Pan American (13).

Also competing are Monterrey Tech, Prairie View A&M, Texas A&M Commerce, and Texas A&M International.

The Texas A&M Invitational will be a standard format (men's - 8,000 meters/women's - 5,000 meters) race in which the top-five runners' finishes will be calculated to determine the winning teams.

The Texas A&M Invitational will be held at the Penberthy Intramural Fields in College Station, TX. Start time for the event will be 7:45 a.m. on Saturday (Sept. 22) for the men's race followed by the women's race at 8:30 a.m.

UTPA Sports Information