Cross Country | 9/17/2016 8:07:00 PM
Results
DENTON - Abilene Christian senior Sterlen Paul and sophomore transfer from North Florida Travis Nichols finished in a virtual tie for 25th place Saturday morning in the collegiate four-mile run as part of the Ken Garland Invitational hosted by North Texas. Both Wildcats were given a time of 21:11.4 even though Paul was listed ahead of Nichols on the result sheet.
Right behind this duo in 27th place was junior Ryan Cleary, who clocked a 21:15.8 in his season debut. Also cracking the top-40 was Wildcat freshman Drew Cummings, who posted a 33rd-place time of 21:44.8, while senior Reid Rivers came in 36th at 22:08.5.
In a crowded field of 84 runners from 11 NCAA DI and D2 schools, the ACU men placed fifth of six DI schools, finishing 16 points ahead of TCU, 136-152, and 15 points behind Oklahoma, which scored 121 points.
Baylor won the team title with 25 points but the top-two individuals were claimed by UT Arlington as Craig Laurenslager beat teammate Michael Guerrero to the finish line by more than eight seconds, 19:55.2 to 20:03.5. Baylor then scored the third to seventh-place points, while two additional runners from North Texas – Alex Cleveland and Mike Lowe – made it into the top-10.
ACU's women's team had only five entries for the second consecutive week, and as such placed sixth with 159 points despite getting a 17th-place 5K time of 19:7.8 from junior Gabby Thompson. The women's DI race featured 64 competitors and there was an additional 26 runners from the D2 and college levels.
Senior Sierra Bennett was the second Wildcat to cross the finish line in 20:14.0 followed by freshman Gema Sanchez (21:04.6), newcomer Natalie Jackson (21:08.4) and ACU multi-athlete Brielle Collette (25:52.5).
If not for the redshirt status of Diana García Muñoz, Carnley Graham, and sisters Alexandria and Michaela Hackett, the Wildcats would have won this meet in a route as Alexandria beat her sister to the finish line by 15.2 second, 17:08.8 to 17:24.4. North Texas' Susannah Lynch prevented the ACU redshirt sweep with her third-place time of 18:01.3 followed by Graham in fourth at 18:01.5 and García Muñoz in fifth at 18:17.7.
Alexandria Hackett has now won her last three cross country races and has not finished outside the top five since the 2014 Southland Conference Championship.
North Texas women won the team title with 42 points, nine points ahead of runner-up TCU and 40 points ahead of third-place Oklahoma. Baylor scored 96 points and UT Arlington earned 101.
The Wildcats return to action next Saturday for the annual Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree. This will be ACU's first visit to the noted Stillwater course since 2014 as last year's team used this weekend to race at Texas A&M.
