In UST cross country's first season in school history, the men's cross country team placed 2nd at the RRAC Conference Championship and qualified 3 individual runners for the NAIA National Championships meet in Cedar Rapid, Iowa. The entire UST squad was composed of Freshman runners who have all jumped from racing 5k's in H.S. to 8k in college. The meet was held on OLLU's home course at the Windfield Golf Course in San Antonio, TX. The men raced the 8km distance while the women competed at the 5k distance. Course conditions were low 60's and sunny.
The men were led by frontrunner Alex De La Maza, who placed 2nd overall and ran his 2nd best 8km of all time in 26:28 and qualified for nationals. Following De La Maza was Michael Skinner who placed 5th with a time of 27:22 and also qualified for nationals. Juan Gonzales was the third runner to cross the line for St. Thomas with an 8th place finish in 27:46, 16 sec personal best, and earned a qualifying spot to the national meet. Coming in fourth for the team was Joel Garza in 10th overall and with a time of 28:12. The final scorer for the Celts was Armando Hernandez who placed 15th and ran a time of 29:10. The sixth runner for UST was Alexander Guevara who ran 29:31 and placed 18th overall. Rounding out the team was Oscar Padilla, who ran 31:13 and placed 26th overall. The men averaged a time of 27:48 for the 8km distance (5:35/mile).
The Lady Celts were led by Venice Macawilli who placed 2nd overall and ran 20:24 for the 5k course. Following Macawili were teammates Alexandria Gonzales in 8th (21:35) (National Qualifier), Fatima Mancia in 14th (22:06), (21:46) Maricela Hernandez 17th (21:41) and Miranda De La Rosa 18th (22:49). Avg time for the girls was 21:55
The team did a terrific job running their best on the day that counted the most. To place 2nd with a group of all freshman in our first year in school history is something truly remarkable. I am so proud of the hard work these men and women put in over the course of this year and I cannot wait to see how much better we will be in the future" says Coach Dohner.
Next, the UST men and women's will send 5 runners to the national meet in Cedar Rapids, Iowa on November 16th.
