Oct. 10, 2008

The University of Texas-Pan American men and women's cross country program had a successful run at the HBU Invitational with the men placing first and the women finishing in second this Friday (Oct. 10) afternoon.

"Everyone is improving their times and doing great. We got to see how our conference rivals (Houston Baptist) are doing. Both the men and women ran really well and are rounding out for conference," said head men and women's cross country coach Dennis Darling.

Senior Luis Nava finished in third with a time of 15:14 with teammates Angel M. Ramirez, Robert Najera and J.J. Hernandez right behind in fourth, fifth and sixth place respectively. Ramirez finished in 15:19 with Najera behind with a time of 15:27 and a two second delay between Najera and Hernandez with Hernandez finishing in 15:29.

Omar Doria and Wally Gonzalez finished in eighth and ninth place with Doria recording a time of 15:35 and Gonzalez a time of 15:38.

Junior Gilroy Martinez crossed the finish line in 12th with a time of 15:43 and La Joya-native Vidal Ruiz in 24th with a time of 16:36.

The men finished with first with a score of 21 points with Rice in second, Houston Baptist in third, Prairie View A&M in fourth and Texas A&M-Kingsville in fifth.

On the women's side, Carolina Izaguirre brought home a first place finish, recording her best finish of the season, with a time of 14:21.

Co-captain Diana Galloso finished four spots behind in fifth with a time of 15:01 and teammate Sara Hernandez in eighth with a time of 15:34 to round out the top-10.

Larissa de Leon crossed the finish line in 11th with a time of 15:40 just three seconds behind the 10th place finisher. Freshman Sasha Suarez recorded a 21st place finish with a time of 17:31.

The men and women's cross country program will take almost a month of f before heading out to Orem, UT for the Great West Conference Championship.

UTPA Sports Information