NACOGDOCHES, Texas– The Southern Utah University cross country program competed in its inaugural WAC cross country championships early Saturday morning. Both SUU teams had impressive finishes as the men's team finished in second place, and the women's team took fourth place.
"To finish near the top in our first year in a brand new conference felt very good, said SUU Head Coach Eric Houle." We are a young team that has developed so well throughout this season. We showed amazing toughness, and I'm proud of how this team competed. Altogether this team represented Southern Utah very well today."
Southern Utah's men finished the competition with 63 overall points, edging out Utah Valley, who had 67 points, and falling to California Baptist in first with 28 points.
Isaiah Labra battled with a lead pack of Cal Baptist runners in the 8k throughout the race before charging forward to claim the Thunderbird's top individual finish in fourth place with a blazing time of 23:15.0.
Travis Feeny and Santiago Gaitan secured two more top-10 finishes for Southern Utah. Both Thunderbirds finished the race just a tenth of a second apart as Feeny took eighth place with a 23:43.7 and Gaitan grabbed ninth place with a time of 23:43.8.
Junior Hayden Harward put up a stellar time of 23:51.4 to take 13th place, and freshman Nethaneel Taylor rounded out the scoring for SUU in 29th place with a time of 24:32.9.
All of these finishes earned all-conference honors for several athletes. Isaiah Labra, Travis Feeny, and Santiago Gaitan grabbed first-team All-WAC honors, and Hayden Harward received second-team All-WAC.
The Thunderbird women recorded a total of 93 points finishing just behind New Mexico State in third, UVU in second, and Cal Baptist, who claimed the title.
Madisan DeBos was the first woman to cross the finish line for Southern Utah, taking 11th place with a blistering 20:44.5. Not far behind was Haley Tanne, who turned on the jets and finished in 14th place with a 20:52.3. Both athletes clinched second-team All-WAC honors with these finishes.
Coming in third for the Thunderbirds was Sariah Hernandez, who finished with a time of 21:11.0 to take 21st place. Rounding out the lineup were Jordyn Bartolomucci and Quinn Hagerman, who finished in consecutive order. Bartolomucci grabbed 23rd place with a 21:18.8, and Hagerman took 24th second behind with a 21:23.6.
UP NEXT
Southern Utah will now await the NCAA Mountain Regional Championships on Friday, November 11th in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
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