Oct. 11, 2007

The University of Texas-Pan American men's and women's cross country teams will travel to Fayetteville, AR where they will compete at the Chile Pepper Meet hosted by University of Arkansas at the Fayetteville Agri Park, on Saturday (Oct. 13).

"Both the men and women have been doing really well," said head men's and women's cross country coach Dennis Darling. "I've asked the women to step up at the beginning of the year and I think they have. I think we will go up there and be competitive.

"I think the team is very confident in what we've been doing. This meet is a good confidence boaster and this is going to be their biggest challenge for the year. I'm not sure how big the meet is but I'm pretty sure it's a bigger meet than we've been running in, said Darling.

This will be the Broncs and Lady Broncs final meet before the National Independent Championships which will take place at UTPA on Saturday (Oct. 27).

The Lady Broncs are coming off an outstanding performance where they claimed fifth overall at the Islander Splash Invitational. Leading the pack for the women was Brownsville native Carolina Izaguirre (Brownsville, TX/Hanna H.S.) as she earned ninth overall with a time of 17:57.

Izaguirre's mark of 17:57 in the 5,000-meter race put her fourth all-time in program history.

The Broncs captured fourth place laurels at the Islander Splash Invitational behind A&M-Corpus Christi, Rice University and Stephen F. Austin.

Junior Luis Nava (La Joya, TX/La Joya H.S.) found his pace quickly, collecting runner-up honors with a time of 25:53 and posting his fourth top-10 finish of the season.

Nava has joined an elite group of UTPA runners as he currently ranks 10th in program history in the 8,000 meters after his performance at the Texas A&M Invitational, where he collected seventh overall with a mark of 24:54.

"I think it will be a great accomplishment if Luis gets in the top ten and I think it will be even greater if he's in the top five. I think he is very capable of getting first," said Darling.

The field of men's teams will include Arkansas, Arkansas Alumni, Abilene Christian, Allen Community, Arkansas State, Auburn, Austin Peay State, Baylor, Cameron University, Central Arkansas, Centenary, East Central University, Hendrix, Houston, LSU, Missouri - Kansas City, Nevada, Oral Roberts, Ouachita Baptist, Rend Lake College, Rice, Richmond, Samford, Southern Methodist, Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, TCU, Texas A&M, Texas-Arlington, Texas-San Antonio, Texas at Tyler, Texas Tech, Trinity, Vanderbilt, University of California - Irvine, Virginia Tech.

The field of women's teams will include Arkansas, Abilene Christian, Alabama, Allen Community, Arkansas State, Auburn, Austin Peay State, Baylor, California - Irvine, Centenary, Central Arkansas, East Central, Georgia State, Hendrix, Houston, James Madison, LSU, Louisiana Lafayette, Louisiana - Monroe, Midwestern State, Oklahoma State, Oral Roberts, Rend Lake College, Richmond, Samford, Southern Methodist, Texas A&M Corpus Christi, TCU, Texas, Texas-Arlington, Texas at Tyler, Texas A&M, Texas Tech, Trinity, Tulane, Utah, Vanderbilt, Virginia Tech, University of Nebraska.

The Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival will be celebrating its 19th anniversary. The Festival brings in over 3,500 runners from across the country competing in amateur, collegiate, high school and junior high races.

The 19th Annual Chile Pepper will be held at the Fayetteville Agri Park in Fayetteville, AR, on Saturday (Oct. 13). Start time for the event will be 9:45 a.m. for the men's 10K race followed by the women's race at 10 a.m.

UTPA Sports Information