Oct. 25, 2008

Results 

Kingsville, Texas - The West Texas A&M men's cross country team placed eighth at the Lone Star Conference Cross Country Championships, held Saturday at the L.E. Ramey Golf Course in Kingsville, Texas.

The Buffs totaled 193 points in finishing eighth out of nine teams. Abilene Christian won the team championship, tallying a near perfect score of 17 points as they had five of the top six placers in the 7,700-meter race. Abilene Christian junior Daniel Maina crossed the tape in a time of 23:32 to earn individual medalist honors. Cleophas Tanui and Julius Myango were close behind at 23:39 and 23:40, respectively. Texas A&M-Commerce junior Tyler Tyndell broke up the lead pack placing fourth in a time of 23:45. ACU's Serge Gasore and LSC Freshman of the Year Charles White rounded out the scoring runners for the champions in fifth and sixth place, respectively.

Tarleton State University came out on top in a close race for second place with 77 points. Texas A&M-Commerce was third with 78 points while East Central University was fourth with 89 points. Angelo State University (142), Cameron University (146), Eastern New Mexico University (174), West Texas A&M (193) and Texas A&M-Kingsville (270) rounded out the scoring teams.

Leading the Buffs' efforts on the 7,700 meter course was Jose Velazquez (senior, Hereford, Texas), who finished 28th with a time of 25:55. He was followed by Thomas Harris (sophomore, Amarillo, Texas), 36th with a time of 26:32, Andrew Striley (freshman, Amarillo, Texas), 41st with a 26:45, Jarret Kachel (junior, Hooker, Okla.), 50th with a 27:36 and Isai Saucedo (soph., Bovina, Texas), 51st with a time of 27:39. Also competing but not scoring were Erik Huerta (soph., Hereford, Texas), 56th, 28:15, Matt Kopansky (freshman, Toronto, Ontario), 62nd, 28:43, Jesse Maldonado (fresh., Hereford, Texas), 65th, 29:07, Jarred Murray (freshman, Odessa, Texas), 66th, 29:07 and Luis Flores (soph., Booker, Texas), 67th with a time of 29:48.

"I was pleased with our individual efforts, in that we had several runners record personal bests today," said WT head coach Paul Sweetgall. "However, I was not pleased with our team standing. We just don't have the horsepower to keep up with the better teams in our conference. We are heavily into recruiting right now and we plan to finish among the upper division teams next year."

The Buffs will now look forward to competing in the NCAA South Central Region Meet, Saturday, Nov. 8, at 9:30 a.m.  The meet will be held at Live Oak City Park in San Antonio, Texas.