The men and women's cross country competed in their fouth meet of the season at the Incarnate Word Invitational which included teams from all divisions of the NCAA and NAIA system. On a warm and humid morning, the teams competed on the hills and grass at Live Oak Park, just northeast of San Antonio. The men's race was set at the 8k distance while the women competed at the 6k distance. The Celt runners placed 7th out of 11 teams with a score of 172 points. The men's team ran this past weekend without number one runner Alex De La Maza to save his legs for later in the season.
The men were led by frontrunner Michael Skinner (pictured) who placed 22nd in the men's 8k team competition in a time of 28:24. Joel Garza was the number two runner for St. Thomas with a 28th place finish in (28:50). Coming in third for the team was Juan Gonzales in 31st (29:07) followed by Alex Guevara 41st (30:09), Oscar Padilla 50th (30:33), Elliott Smith 55th (31:23) and Armando Hernandez 58th place (31:52)
The men averaged a time of 29:25 for the 8km distance (5:55/mile).
The Lady Celts were led by Venice Macawilli who placed 17th and ran 25:15 for the 6k distance. Following Macawili were teammates Alexandria Gonzales in 30th (26:39) Fatima Mancia 41st (27:51), Maricela Hernandez 48th (28:41) and Miranda De La Rosa 50th (29:37),
"The team did a good job stepping it up as a whole without our number one runner Alex De La Maza, Our number two runner Joel Garza really helped us at this meet and we expect the team to tighten up even more over the coming weeks. The guys are now starting to run harder workouts and with the weather changing soon, the fitness will begin to improve drastically" says Coach Dohner.
Next, the UST men and women's cross country team will road trip to Winfield, KS to compete against some of the best teams in the NAIA at the Mid-States Classic on October 20th.
