CEDAR CITY, Utah– Southern Utah University's cross-country teams will be competing in their first-ever WAC cross-country Championships this Saturday, October 29th, at Pecan Acres Park in Nacogdoches, Texas. The Thunderbirds will be contending for the conference title as the WAC coaches' poll picked both Southern Utah squads to finish in third place. 

LAST TIME OUT

SUU last competed in their final regular season race of the fall, the Weis Crockett Invitational (Pre Nationals) at Oklahoma State on October 15th. Both Thunderbird teams earned stellar finishes as the women finished in sixth place, and the men took 10th place in a competition with 26 of the top programs in the country.  

Senior Madisan DeBos led the way for the Thunderbird women blazing to a time of 21:29.0 to take 27th place overall out of 232 other runners. 

Sariah Hernandez earned SUU's second top-50 finish, securing 43rd place with a time of 21:42.5. Haley Tanne closed out the top three for SUU taking 59th place with a 21:54.5. 

On the men's side, Isaiah Labra had a sensational outing clocking Southern Utah's top individual finish, coming in 17th place out of a field of 241 runners with a blistering time of 23:58.3.

Santiago Gaitan and Travis Feeny secured two more top-50 finishes for the Thunderbirds. Gaitan put up a time of 24:17.5 to take 31st place and Feeny came in just seconds behind with a 24:19.1 to finish in 32nd place. 

Thunderbirds at Conference Championships

Southern Utah has had lots of success in conference championships in the past decade, claiming four Big Sky Championships and nine runner-ups, during its ten years in the conference. They are now looking to carry that same success into this weekend and have a great chance at another impressive finish. 

"The only thing we can focus on is how we race, SUU Head Coach Eric Houle said." We are a young team that has so much more to learn, but we have come so far this year in our development. We are in a new conference full of great teams, and it will take a complete performance from everyone in our lineup to get us there. But we have a very good chance at a great finish because of the effort we've put into this season."

WAC Pre-Championship Coaches Poll 

The Western Athletic Conference released their Pre Championship Cross Country Coaches Poll Wednesday morning, and both SUU teams were picked to finish in third place overall. Sitting in front of the Thunderbirds is Utah Valley in second and California Baptist at the top of the poll in the men's and women's predictions. 

2022 WAC Men's Cross Country Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll

1. California Baptist 

2. Utah Valley 

3. Southern Utah 

4. Grand Canyon 

5. UT Arlington 

6. Stephen F Austin 

7. Tarleton 

8. Abilene Christian 

9. Sam Houston 

10. New Mexico State 

11. UTRGV 

12. Utah Tech 

13.  Seattle U 

2022 WAC Women's Cross Country Pre-Championship Coaches' Poll

1. California Baptist 

2. Utah Valley 

3. Southern Utah 

4. Abilene Christian 

5. New Mexico State 

6. Grand Canyon 

7. Stephen F. Austin 

8. Utah Tech 

9. UT Arlington 

10. Seattle U 

11. Tarleton 

12. Sam Houston 

13. UTRGV

Race Info

The 2022 WAC Championships will take place at Pecan Acres Park in Nacogdoches TX. The competition will start with the women's 6k at 7 a.m. MT and the men's 8k race will follow at 8 a.m. MT.  There will be no live stream of the event, but you can follow along on live stats, which will be updated every mile of each race. 

WOMEN'S LIVE STATS

MEN'S LIVE STATS

Follow Us

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