OLMOS PARK, Texas - Abilene Christian's women's cross country team finished first of seven schools and ahead of three Southland Conference schools with 53 points scored Friday at the UIW Invitational.
Sophomore
Irene Rono defeated 55 entrants with a 6K time of 20:33.1, which was 18.7 seconds ahead of runner-up Valentina Campos (20:51.8) and almost a minute ahead of third place Tamara Reeves of Central Arkansas (21:32.2). This was Rono's third consecutive win, dating back to Oct. 17. She also won the Texas Tech Corky Classic 3K in 9:55.30.
Sophomore
Grace White (21:49.1) and junior
Sarah Wagler (21:59.1) helped the Wildcats' cause with seventh and eighth-place showings, and senior
Briahna Gerlach just missed the top 10 with her 11th-place time of 22:19.6. Sophomore
Ariana Trevino was the Wildcats' fifth-runner, coming across in 26th at 23:23.8.
"Our women had a really solid race as a team," said head cross country coach
Jarvis Jelen. "Obviously, Irene is very fit and continues to gain confidence, and our No. 5 spot can definitely step up even more at Southland Conference between Hannah (Marut) and Ari (Trevino), allowing us to be really competitive."
UCA was runner-up on the women's side with 63 points, edging host UIW by one point. The four remaining teams all scored above 90 points.
ACU's men's team placed third of seven schools with 62 points as six of its runners placed between ninth and 20th place. Sophomore
Maxwel Kiplagat led the way with his 8K mark of 25:18.1.
"The men's team did a good job of packing up and working together," said Jelen. "Our depth is solid, but we need to step it up a lot up front at conference, which I know we are capable of doing."
Texas A&M-Corpus Christi won the team title with 50 points as its top-two competitors placed first and second. Freshman Dennis Kipngeno was first of 60 runners with a time of 23:50.1 and teammate Tristan Stellmach was second in 23:57.4.
The Wildcats return to action Saturday, Feb. 6 with the McMurry Bill Libby Invitational, which will be hosted by ACU's cross country course on EN 10th Street.
