Cats Compete Well at A&M Invite

COLLEGE STATION – Abilene Christian placed sixth in the men's race and eighth in the women's race Friday at the Texas A&M Invitational.
 
The ACU men finished the eight-kilometer course with 168 points and an average time of 25:12.89 to finish ahead of North Texas and Sam Houston in the 13-team field.
 
Texas A&M won the men's race with 43 points and Houston was the only other squad posting a sub-100 score.
 
Kevin Castruita led the Wildcats with a steady 11-place finish in 24:31.
 
Garrison Shindler made a big move after the first two kilometers, moving up 20 slots to his final position of 29^th in 25:08.3.
 
Gabe Embree finished 38^th at 25:20.4, Zach Martin was 46^th at 25:27.9 and Samuel Lanham rounded out the scoring five in 56^th at 25:36.8.
 
Mikhail Fortner finished 69^th at 25:54.2 and Jacob Russell finished off ACU's top seven in 77^th at 26:07. Also for the Wildcats, Verdin O'Brien placed 106^th at 27:03.02.
 
The ACU women finished at 26 points with an average time of 19:34.11 on the five-kilometer course. The Wildcats topped Tarleton State and Sam Houston in the 14-team field.
 
Texas A&M won the women's race with 30 points, followed by Dallas Baptist at 77 and Texas-Arlington at 81.
 
Peyton Bornstein led the Cats in 46^th place in 19:15.2.
 
The rest of the Wildcat scorers were in pack mode with Tessa Holderman in 60^th at 19:36.5, Kate Hansen in 61^st at 19:38.2, Katelyn Coldicott in 62^nd at 19:38.8 and Kate Williams in 66^th at 19:41.7.
 
Autumn Smith was 80^th at 20:16.6 and Georgia Lee came in 90^th at 20:36.2 to finish off ACU's top seven. Hadley Phillips was not far off in 95^th at 2:46.1.
 
The Wildcats return to action on Sept. 29 at the University of Arkansas' Chile Pepper Invitational.