St. Thomas men's and women's cross-country teams opened their season early Friday morning at the Stormy Seas Opener on the campus of Southwestern University. The field included teams from all 3 NCAA Divisions, including the University of Texas, UMHB, Prairie View, Texas Lutheran, and Schreiner University.
Women's Recap
In the women's meet, Senior Samantha Hernandez led the way for UST and finished 30th out of 80 runners in the field with a time of 20:34. Hernandez was 1st among all Division III runners. Alejandra Ramon followed Hernandez, finishing 35th with 20:48. Following Ramon was sophomore Elyssa Rodarte, who ran 21:30. Elizabeth Stepaniak and Kianna Stamps secured spots in the top five for the Celts. The Celts placed 5th overall with a team score of 115 points.
Men's Recap
Senior Marc Mendoza led the Celt Men and finished 17th out of 90 runners with a time of 16:08. His time placed him 1st among all Division III runners. Mendoza was followed by freshman Johnathan Castro, who finished 19th with 16:22. Mason McFeeters was the third Celt to finish with at 16:29, finishing 21st out of 90 runners in the field.
Diego Moya and Cristian Rios completed the scoring for UST helping the team to a terrific 2nd place finish behind only the University of Texas Longhorns.
Cross Country Head Coach Walt Yarrow says, "Today was a good start to our 2024 season. It was nice to finally get out and open it up a little after a summer of controlled training and mileage. These results are a good baseline for us to continue to build on and we are looking forward to getting back to work next week."
Full Results of the Race can be Found: https://www.milesplit.live/meets/632573
The Celts take next week off before traveling 1.2 miles to compete in the Rice Invitational in on September 13th. For updates, please visit www.ustcelts.com or follow @USTathletics and @usttxctf on Instagram.
