SUGAR LAND – The UTSA men's and women's cross country teams each earned their first victories of the season at the HBU Invitational Friday night at Sugar Land Memorial Park. The Roadrunner women totaled 18 points in their win, while the men tallied 35.
"This was a great meet for both teams," said coach David Hartman. "Winning both events gives us great confidence heading into the Conference USA championship meet. All of our student-athletes competed hard today and look to be rounding into shape at the perfect time."
The UTSA women defeated Houston Baptist (43 points) and Texas Southern (82 points) to earn the victory. In all, UTSA student-athletes claimed four of the top-five finishes and eight of the top-10 at the 5,000-meter distance.
Yulisa Abundis captured the women's event win, clocking an 18:35.4, for her first collegiate victory. She was immediately followed across the line by Amber Boyd (18:49.3) in second. Colleen Gilbert (19:20.7) placed third, followed by Gabby Gonzales (19:41.8) in fifth, while Sarah Estrada rounded out the Roadrunners' team scorers in seventh with a 19:52.7.
"What a day to be a Roadrunner," said Abundis. "Today was a great day for both my teammates and myself. Placing first individually and as a team is a great confidence booster.
"Our goal was to come to this meet and dominate. And after achieving our goal, we will carry our positive energy into the Conference USA championship meet.
Also earning top-10 finishes outside the team scorers were Olivia Flores (20:03.7) in eighth, Lynette Amaram (20:13.6) in ninth and Emily Voss (20:28.1) in 10th.
Rounding out the Roadrunner contingent were Charlette Janicek (12th // 20:44.8), Rian Rodriguez (16th // 21:13.7), Victoria Gaytan (18th // 21:45.1) and Kaela Maldonado (25th // 24:18.3).
The UTSA men totaled 35 points to come home first, finishing ahead of Houston Baptist (57 points), Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (74 points), Rice (88 points), Prairie View A&M (112 points) and Texas Southern (141 point). Four Roadrunners clocked top-10 finishes in the five-mile event, led by Peter Sepulveda.
"This race was a great turnout," said Sepulveda. "After not doing so well at the Notre Dame Invitational a few weeks ago, today served as a real confidence booster for the upcoming C-USA championships. Now we just have to get back to work and continue to build on this confidence so we can run at the best of our ability in Mississippi."
Sepulveda paced the squad with a 26:47.7 to place third overall. Hunter Hawkins was a mere 10 seconds after, stopping the clock at 26:57.0 to place fifth. Matthew David and John von Dohlen closely followed Hawkins across the line, clocking times of 27:11.6 and 27:15.2 to place seventh and eighth, respectively. Josh Rodriguez placed 12th with a 27:34.5 to round out the Roadrunners' scorers.
Edgar Garcia stopped the clock at 28:04.8 to place 17th, followed by Omar Bekdache (24th // 28:53.5), Christian Castellanos (31st // 30:28.1), Marcus Guajardo (34th // 31:02.1), Mason Riley (36th // 31:24.2), Luca Chatham (42nd // 32:46.8) and Jacian Smith (43rd // 32:54.0).
Up next
UTSA enters the championship portion of its season on Sat., Oct. 28 when the Roadrunners travel to Jackson, Miss., for the 2017 Conference USA Championships.
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