St. Thomas men's and women's cross-country teams competed in their first and only hometown meet on a cool Friday evening at the Rice Invitational on the beautiful Rice University campus. The meet featured NCAA D1 and D3 schools and an NAIA and NJCAA participant. Joining St. Thomas in the field were schools across the city, state, and Louisiana. The field included Texas A&M Corpus Christi, Stephen F. Austin, Louisiana Tech, Northwestern State, Prairie View, Texas Southern, Letourneau, North American University, Victoria College, and the host Rice Owls.
Women's Recap
Senior Samantha Hernandez led the Celts, finishing 36th out of 76 runners with a time of 16:26, and was the top Division III runner in the field. Elizabeth Stepaniak (Sr.) followed in 48th place at 17:10, while sophomore Elyssa Rodarte completed the course with a time of 17:58. To round out the scoring for UST, fellow sophomores Kianna Stamps and Gizelle Gonzalez secured the 4th and 5th spots.
Men's Recap
In the Men's meet, the Celts were led by sophomore Mason McFeeters, who finished at 17:04. McFeeters finished 33rd out of 86 total runners, placing him second among all Division III runners. Freshman Johnathon Castro and Marc Mendoza (Jr.) finished 26th and 27th respectively in the scoring. Both Castro and Mendoza completed the course at 17:22. Diego Moya and Juan Silva rounded out the top five spots for the Celts. St. Thomas finished ahead of all non-D1 participants and 4th overall, behind only NCAA D1 competition: SFA, Rice, and A&M Corpus-Christi.
Head Coach Walt Yarrow praised the team's performance, "It was another solid race day for the Celts. I'm proud of our team's effort and competitiveness, especially against a field largely composed of Division I teams. With nearly two months until the SCAC championships, I'm confident we will continue progressing."
Full Results of the Race can be Found: https://riceowls.com/
Up Next
The Celts will recuperate the next two weeks before traveling to Fayetteville, AR, to compete in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival on September 28th. For updates, please visit www.ustcelts.com or follow @USTathletics and @usttxctf on Instagram.
