Texans win first cross country meet of the season at Angelo State
SAN ANGELO, Texas - The South Plains cross country meets traveled to San Angelo Tuesday afternoon for a mid-week cross country meet hosted by Angelo State University. Running in their final tune-up before the Region 5 championships on October 29, the Texans and Lady Texans showed they are nearing post-season form by sweeping both men's and women's individual titles and with the Texans taking their first team championship of the season. The SPC women finished second overall out of nine teams.
In the men's 8,000-meter race, sophomore Kemoy Campbellrebounded from his first defeat of the season Saturday at the SPC cross country festival to easily win Tuesday with a time of 26 minutes, 9.53 seconds. Campbell defeated the next best competitor by over a minute.
The Texans got two more top 10 finishes from Isacc Placencia and Bretton Villarreal. Placencia finished fifth overall, clocking a time of 27:38.90, while Villarreall was eighth in the race with a finishing time of 28:37.20.
Rounding out the top five for the SPC men were sophomore Jonathan Lira (29:09.82) and freshman Anthonio Mascoll (29:51.73), who finished 13th and 21st, respectively, and helping the Texans to a team total of 42 points, 32 better than runner-up Angelo State.
"The guys ran really well," said eighth year head coach Chris Beene. "The times are not indicative as to how well they ran. The course was very muddy, but they got out there and competed very well."
Rene Escobedo (30:45.47) and Luke Samarron (31:58.93) are also competed for the Texans, finishing 31st and 43rd.
The women's race was supposed to be 6,000 meters in length, but Beene said the lead car made a wrong turn and the total distance turned out to be right around 3-miles.
"I was pleased with the way the girls ran, especially given the circumstances," Beene said.
Natoya Goule, last year's NJCAA cross country runner-up, led three Lady Texans finishing inside the top 10 with a winning time of 18:01.57. Kirsten Taylor finished sixth overall, crossing the line with a time of 18:39.26 and Darronehia Lott was seventh in 18:50.48.
Tiffany Matthews and Michaela Johnson were SPC's fourth and fifth runners, turning in times of 19:26.99 and 19:59.54 to finish 11th and 16th. The Lady Texans just missed the team title as they finished with 41 team points, four behind the 37 points of West Texas A&M.
The NJCAA No. 6 ranked Lady Texans and No. 10 ranked Texans will continue preparations for post-season competition. They are next slated to compete in Snyder, Texas Saturday, October 29 for the Region 5 Championships and then November 12 for the NJCAA cross country championships in Hobbs, N.M.