Sept. 26, 2008

After an afternoon race at West Guth Park, the UTPA men's cross country team finished 2nd with the women's cross country team placing 3rd at the New Balance Islander Splash this Friday (Sept. 26) afternoon in Corpus Christi, Texas.

"The women did really great. We placed third, eight points behind UTSA. Overall, we ran a great race," said assistant cross country coach Hugo Cervantes.

Scheduled to compete first were the women with the UTPA women's cross country program placing third overall with 80 points. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi placed first with 24 points with UTSA following behind in second with 72.

Brownsville native Carolina Izaguirre crossed the finish line in fourth with a time of 18:00, three spots behind UTSA's Dana Mecke (17:09).

Sophomore Diana Galloso collected a 14th place finish and personal best with a time of 18:59, while teammate Sara Rodriguez placed 21st with a time of 19:40.

Newcomer Larissa de Leon finished one spot behind Rodriguez in 22nd with a time of 19:44. De Leon improved her time by almost a minute and a half.

Sasha Suarez and Daniela Flores placed 38th and 49th place respectively. Suarez finished with a time of 22:56 and Flores with a time of 26:57.

The women competed in a field of 49 with seven teams overall.

On the men's side, the Broncs had the help of senior Luis Nava back in the line up.

"The men did pretty well with most of the guys recording personal bests. We had Luis Nava back on the roster and he did fairly well on his first meet back," added Cervantes.

Senior J.J. Hernandez collected a fifth place finish with a time of 25:35 with teammate Robert Najera finishing three spots behind in eighth with a time of 25:48. Angel M. Ramirez rounds out the top 10 with a 10th place finish in a time of 25:50.

On his first meet back in his senior campaign, Nava finished 10 seconds behind Ramirez in 11th place with a time of 26:00.

The trio of juniors - Wally Gonzalez, Gilroy Martinez and Omar Doria - placed 16th, 17th and 19th place respectively. Both Gonzalez and Martinez recorded a time of 26:18 with Doria finishing in 26:44.

Vidal Ruiz rounds out the men's team with a 32nd place finish with a time of 27:49.

The men's team placed 2nd collecting 50 points with TAMUCC in first with 19 points. The men's competition included a field of 50 participants with six teams overall.

Both the men and women's cross country program will have two weeks off before they hit the road for the Houston Baptist Invitational on Oct. 10.

UTPA Sports Information