ARLINGTON, Texas – The Wildcats had the opportunity to test out the new UTA XC course at the Harold Patterson Sports Center in Arlington, the same course that will host the WAC XC Championship on Friday, October 31. The men were only 4 points from winning the meet as UTA used the home course advantage to pull out a victory with 55 points.
Former Southland Conference foe TAMU-Corpus Christi was just behind with 56 points, and the Wildcats finished third with 59 points. WAC foe Tarleton finished 4th in the team race, and ACU also defeated both TCU and Baylor in the meet. The race was approximately 100 meters longer than the 5K race distance, making any personal bests (PBs) particularly notable.
The men were led by
Andruw Villa, who placed 3rd overall with a time of 15:01.9 on the over-long course. Villa had four more Wildcats finish in the top 20:
Carlos Cortez (8th, with a PB time of 15:16.6;
Vincent Luffey (14th, also with a PB of 15:21.4);
Mark Barajas (15th, with a time of 15:21.4), and
Kevin Castruita (19th, with a time of 15:25.7). Four additional runners placed in the top 40% of race finishers – a group that includes
Benjamin Castro (27 th, with a personal best time of 15:39.3);
Matthew Engle (28th, the redshirt freshmanrunning his first collegiate 5K race): Austn Roberts (33rd place, with a PB time of 15:41.2), and
Mikhail Fortner (37th place, with a time of 15:44.9). This race achieved the goal of running in a tightly formed pack – only 23 seconds separated the top 5 ACU finishers and 43 seconds separating the top nine, an exhibition of the depth of this year's squad.
The women struggled a bit, finishing in 7th place, as a strong TAMU-Corpus Christi team won handily ahead of 2nd-place TCU and 3rd-place UTA. Both WAC foes, Tarleton State and Baylor, finished ahead of the 'Cats. Transfer
Chloe McLellan led the team in 24th place with a PB time of 18:53.3, followed by
Hannah Kasper in 28th with a time of 18:48.7, and
Kyla Fuller in 39th place with a PB of 19:14.7. Those three were the
only three ACU women in the top half of the field. Freshman
Sidney Windham (45th place with a time of 19:22.3 in her first race at the 5K distance),
Alyssa Quinones (53rd place with a time of 19:44.4),
Hadley Phillips (55th with a PB time of 19:45.7), and freshman
Saylor Stevenson (56th place with a time of 19:57.3) complete the top 7 finishers for ACU.
The Wildcats will not compete again for a month, when they compete in the Chile Pepper XC Festival in Fayetteville, one of the top XC races in the region. That meet will occur on Saturday, October 4 – start times will be posted closer to the meet date.
