Men's and Women's Cross Country competed Saturday at the University of Arkansas' Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Arkansas. The Pumas, competing in the meet for the first time, ran strong races in the four-year university packed fields. "I'm proud of both teams," stated Coach David Barney, "They went out and competed against some very good NCAA DI and DII teams."

The men's team started out the day placing 23rd out of 31 teams in the McDonnell Memorial 8K. They were led by freshman Brady Eagar's 77th place overall finish. Eagar ran 25:25.0 over the challenging 8000m Arkansas Agri-Park Farm cross country course, a time that would have landed him as a scoring finisher on most of the NCAA teams competing in the event. Eagar was followed by freshman, Alexavier Martinez, who placed 104th (25:46.7), freshman Kevin DeGroff, 159th (26:31.8), freshman Jeremiah Judd, 199th (27:08.9), sophomore Joel Bejarano, 205th (27:17.3), and freshman Conor McGlynn, 244th (28:21.9). Arkansas' Timothy Chesondin won the race in a meet record time of 22:53.6 with Arkansas winning the team title with 40 points.

 

The women's team followed the men's lead by finishing 21st in the Harter's Habanero 5K 31-team field. Sophomore Laynee Hollech led the charge completing the tough 5000m course in a time of 18:04.6. That time placed her 68th out of a field of 278 runners. Hollech was closely followed by freshman Audrey Encinas who placed 75th with a time of 18:08.9. Following Hollech and Encinas were freshman Arianna Mason, 151st (19:09.1), sophomore McKenna Martin, 215th (20:07.8), sophomore Tatyana Enriquez, 225th (20:21.4), sophomore Shantelle Berrien, 236th (20:41.7) and sophomore Catalina Case, 246th (21:10.7). Senior Razorback Sydney Thorvaldson clocked the fastest time of the day, winning in 16:03.0, and the University of Texas claimed the team title with 54 points to Arkansas' 106.

 

The Pumas compete next on October 18 at the UC-Riverside Highlander Invitational.