CLINTON, Miss. – The UTSA men's and women's cross country teams competed at the 2017 Conference USA Championships Saturday morning in Clinton, Miss. The Roadrunners men placed seventh at the 8,000-meter event, while the women came home ninth, running a 5,000-meter distance.
Senior John von Dohlen led the men's squad, while junior Yulisa Abundis paced the women.
"Both teams competed extremely hard today," said UTSA cross country coach David Hartman. "We went out harder today and were able to be competitive in the C-USA Championships. It was our best race of the season and that is all you can ask as a coach."
The UTSA men totaled 185 points, which were good for seventh in the 11-team field, finishing ahead of LA Tech (210 points), UTEP (234 points), Florida Atlantic (264 points) and FIU (313 points). Middle Tennessee claimed the team championship with a score of 31, followed closely by Charlotte with 38 points.
"I'm proud of the effort put forth by the entire men's and women's team today," said von Dohlen. "We were plagued with a few injuries, but we pushed hard to compete in a deep conference.
"As this marks the last of my conference meets as a Roadrunner, I am excited for the future of my team and I hope they know I gave them everything I had. There is much to reflect upon, but I am confident that we wil remain hungry and are looking forward to what lies ahead."
Von Dohlen paced the squad with a 25:46.2 to place 28th overall. Luca Chatham was a mere 16 seconds after, stopping the clock at 26:02.8 to place 36th. Peter Sepulveda crossed the line in 26:07.1 to place 41st, Martin Luevano posted a 26:27.1 to place 43rd and Hunter Hawkins turned in a 26:39.6 to round out the UTSA scorers in in 47th.
Josh Rodriguez stopped the clock at 26:41.4 to place 49th, followed by Monty Bertschy (55th // 27:08.2), Matthew David (57th // 27:14.3) and Edgar Garcia (58th // 27:18.0). The event was both David's and Garcia's first collegiate 8K race.
Middle Tennessee's Jacob Choge won the men's individual title with a time of 23:54.2.
The UTSA women finished with 232 points to place ninth in the 13-team field. The Roadrunners defeated Florida Atlantic (272 points), Marshall (281 points), LA Tech (347 points) and WKU (365 points). Charlotte won the team championship with a score of 64, while Southern Miss. claimed runner-up honors with 87 points.
Abundis ran a personal-best time of 18:19.2 to lead the Roadrunners and place 30th overall. She was closely followed across the line by Amber Boyd with a PR time of 18:26.8 in 34th. Emily Voss was the third Bird to finish, posting a 19:05.7 to place 56th. Colleen Gilbert also clocked a PR with a 19:14.2 to place 60th, while Gabby Gonzales closed out the Roadrunners' team scorers in 63rd with a PR time of 19:20.0.
Rounding out the Roadrunner contingent were Sarah Estrada (77th // 19:45.1), Olivia Flores (79th // 19:48.0 PR), Charlette Janicek (85th // 20:12.5) and Lynette Amaram (88th // 20:14.9).
Charlotte's Caroline Sang won the women's individual title with a time of 16:27.9
Up next
UTSA competes at the NCAA South Central Regional in College Station on Friday, Nov. 10.