ACU Finishes the Final WAC Cross Country Championship

On a beautiful, cool fall Friday in Arlington, the ACU Cross Country team fell just short of expectations at the WAC Championship meet, as the men finished in 5^th place (1 point out of 4^th) and the women finished in 6^th. The women's team race went exactly as predicted: the CBU women, followed Utah Valley and UTA and the men led by CBU, then Utah Valley and Southern Uah.

The men's chance to finish in the top three was dealt a blow when year-long leader Andruw Villa had to drop out of the race due to a recurring injury. The slack was picked up by several of the ACU men having terrific races, but not enough to move the team into 3^rd place. Here is how the men finished individually running in a field of 59 runners:

• 19. Carlos Cortez – 24:18 – 2^nd team All-Conference
• 21. Kevin Castruita – 24:40 – missed All-conference by 1 place
• 27. Vincent Luffey – 24:56 – a season-best time
• 33. Mark Barajas – 25:16
• 42. Mikhail Fortner – 25:40
• 47. Austin Roberts – 25:53
• 51. Benji Castro – 25:59
• 54. Matthew Engle – 26:13

The ACU women, a team that has been plagued all year by injury and illness, finished in 6^th place with 169 points, finishing ahead of arch-rival Tarleton State. In a field of 56 runners:

• 24. Chloe McLellan – 21:47 – missed All-Conference by 4 places
• 35. Hannah Kasper – 22:37
• 40. Saylor Steveneson – 22:56
• 43. Hadley Phillips – 23:00 – a new personal best time
• 47, Audrey Chitwood – 23:20
• 48. Madison Anderson – 23:42
• 51. Kate Williams – 24:04 – a season best
• 53. Alyssa Quinones – 24:07
• 54. Kyla Fuller – 24:28

The final meet of the year, the South Central Region meet, will occur in Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday, Nov. 14. It will be hosted by the University of Arkansas.
 
Coach Meeuwenberg on the Men's team: I am pleased with how our team stepped up. About 10 days ago Andruw had a small injury and gave it his best go, but about 2500m in had to dropout. Carlos really stepped up and had been stepping up all year. Being one point away from beating UTA hurts and we talked about learning from adversity. This young team will be better because of it.

Coach M on the Women's team: We finished kind of where we knew we are. Chloe ran well, and Hannah had her best run of the year. This is another learning experience for the group of how to compete at a high level.