Stephen F. Austin
Texas A&M Invitational
Cross Country Performs Well At A&M Invite
9/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
Sept. 19, 2008
COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin Lumberjack cross country team turned in an impressive second-place finish Friday at the Texas A&M Invitational. SFA packed four runners into the first 18 slots and put all five of its scoring competitors in the top 40 to tally a team score of 85 points, well ahead of third-place Tarleton State's total score of 137.
The Lumberjacks, who came into the race ranked 12th in the NCAA South Central Regional Poll, finished ahead of Rice, UT-Arlington, Baylor and Sam Houston State. All four teams were ranked ahead of SFA in this week's preseason poll.
In the women's race, a pair of true freshmen finished in the top 25 to help lead the Ladyjacks to a sixth-place total of 155 points, just 24 points off the pace of host team Texas A&M. The A&M women came into the meet ranked fourth in the South Central Region. SFA finished ahead of three fellow Southland Conference teams in each race.
In the men's 8,000-meter race, sophomore Dennis Yeats led the pack with an eighth-place time of 25:00.63. He finished just five seconds ahead of junior Keith Mahipala, who clocked in at 25:05.90 in 10th place. Redshirt freshmen Mitch Ownbey and Logan Smart finished 15th and 18th, respectively, with times of 25:26.87 and 25:34.43. Sophomore Elliot Starcevich rounded out the scoring runners for SFA, finishing 40th with a time of 26:20.57 to score 34 points.
"We talked about having a conservative start and then working together, and the guys did a great job with that," SFA head coach Lou Snelling said. "Our top three guys did what they were expected to do, and Logan did a good job of keeping that gap between three and four small. We only had a gap of 34 seconds between our first and fourth runners, which is great."
Sam Hulse and James Lopez ran in uniform, rounding out SFA's seven-man squad. Hulse finished 57th with a time of 27:07.39, while Lopez finished in 27:09.13 to take 59th. Nearly as impressive as the team's second-place finish was the performance of the Lumberjacks' two true freshmen, who ran unattached. Harmon McClanahan and Xavier Rodriguez, racing in their first true collegiate meet, finished in nearly a dead heat with McClanahan (26:14.51) taking 34th and Rodriguez (26:14.73) finishing 35th.
SFA's talented freshman class was again on display in the women's race. Rookies Stephanie Ganter and Brittainy Robertson set the pace, finishing 19th and 28th, respectively, in a field that included five of the top six teams in the region. Ganter clocked in at 18:12.82 on the 5,000-meter course, while Robertson finished in 18:28.66.
Sophomore Amy Shackelford was 34th with a time of 18:43.35. True freshman Brette Fleming-Wood followed her in 44th place with a time of 18:59.39, and sophomore Marie Flores was 53rd, finishing in 19:08.68.
"There were truly two different races today," Snelling said. "I don't want to take anything away from our guys, because they ran really, really well. But the girls' race was extremely competitive, and I thought we handled it well."
Sophomores Meredith Blocker and Megan Jenkins, along with junior Heather Adams, rounded out the SFA women's competitors. Blocker (19:30.74) finished 61st, Jenkins (19:44.99) took 69th and Adams (19:47.94) was 71st.
"They definitely achieved what we wanted them to," Snelling said of his women's team. "With it being a five-k course, we couldn't be as conservative as we were in the men's race. We had to start a little quicker, but our top three got out well and really put themselves in a good position to begin with. Then they were able to move up as the race went along.
"For Stephanie to run an 18:12, that's a great opener for her. I'm very happy with that. Nineteenth overall in this field is very respectable."
SFA's next scheduled competition is the Auburn Tiger Invitational. The meet is set for Oct. 4 in Auburn, Ala., and Snelling said he expects to see another quality field with high-ranking regional teams and some Top 25 programs in the mix.
"This was a great opener, exactly what we wanted to achieve," Snelling said. "I've said it before, that the thing with both these teams is, however we opened up, we're only going to get better from here."
-- SFA --
