Sept. 27, 2008

Individual Results | Team Results

San Antonio, Texas - The West Texas A&M women's cross country team, paced by Jeniffer Cherono taking first-place individual honors, placed second among six teams competing at the Incarnate Word Cardinal Invitational, held Saturday at Live Oak City Park in San Antonio, Texas.

Cherono (junior, Iten, Kenya) won the meet with a time of 22:26.4, beating runner-up Marlene Gutierrez of Texas A&M-International by 46 seconds. Other scorers for the Lady Buffs were Belinda Castanon (senior, El Paso, Texas), who finished seventh overall (24:31.2), Becca Rapstine (sophomore, White Deer, Texas), 12th (25:22.7), Sharen Diggs, 13th (25.27.0) and Tara Shields (freshman, Spearman, Texas) finished 17th (26:47.5).

Incarnate Word took top team honors, with 11 points, placing five individuals among the top 11 finishers. WT placed second with 17 points and Angelo State placed third with 23 points.

"This was Jeniffer and Tara's first experience at racing six kilometers, and I'm very proud of their results," said Lady Buff head coach Kimberly Dudley.

"We've had some injuries to deal with over the past couple of weeks, plus we had to deal with the mental adjustment of racing 6k. "Belinda (Castanon) ran very well to place second. Overall, I'm extremely proud of the effort everyone gave today."

The Lady Buffs return to action on Oct. 4, when they compete in the Oklahoma State Cowboy Jamboree, in Stillwater, Okla.