SPC Texans and Lady Texans Dominate Region 5 Cross Country Competition
LEVELLAND, Texas - The South Plains College Texans and Lady Texans blasted their Region 5 competition Saturday morning en route to sweeping the team titles Saturday morning. Natoya Goule led the Lady Texans with a second place finish as the SPC women took six of the top 10 places. On the men's side,Kemoy Campbell dominated the race and his teammates also took care of business as all seven Texans finished within the top 10.
Goule, the leading runner for the Lady Texans all season, completed the 5,000-meter course as the runner-up overall with a time of 17:41.57. Her teammates, Lisa Forsberg and Kadian Dunkley, were the third and fourth competitors to cross the line as Forsberg finished with a time of 18:17.22 and Dunkley crossed at 18:24.00.
Kirsten Taylor's time of 18:51.38 was good for a sixth place finish, while Tiffany Matthewswas ninth with a time of 19:11.79. LeeAnn Cardona was SPC's sixth finisher, crossing the line tenth in 19:20.33.
The Lady Texans team score of 24 points easily outdistanced El Paso CC for the team title by 19 points.
Campbell ran to the front of the pack at the beginning of the race and never looked back as he won the race in a time of 24:30.42, leading the SPC men to a sweep of the top four places.
David Westbury (25:47.75) ran a strong race to finish second, while Roblet Muhudin(25:40.72) and David Mogi were third and fourth, respectively.
Sophomore Joey Villarreal (26:16.86) rounded out the near perfect Texan team score with a sixth place finish. The Texans finished the meet with 16 points.
Isacc Placencia (26:41.81) and Jonathan Lira (26:57.19) also finished within the top 10 with finishes of ninth and 10th, respectively.
"I spoke to the kids on Monday and I told them I did not want to just win, I wanted them to dominate," said SPC assistant coach Frank Barker. "I think they really took that to heart."
The Texans and Lady Texans will return to action in two weeks when the travel to Spartanburg, S.C. for the NJCAA Cross Country Championships. Entering the Regional championships the Texans ranked No. 3 in the NJCAA, while the Lady Texans were No. 4. Barker feels the teams can do well, but still have some work to do.
"When we get to nationals we are going to have to close our gaps down a little bit," said Barker. "This race was very encouraging because they got to see what they can really do."
The NJCAA championships are scheduled for November 13.