SFA Men Third, Women Fourth at Texas A&M

Saturday, September 20

College Station, Texas

TBA

Stephen F. Austin

Texas A&M Invitational

SFA Men Third, Women Fourth at Texas A&M

9/20/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country

Sept. 20, 2014

Men's Results | Women's Results 

COLLEGE STATION, Texas - The Stephen F. Austin men's and women's cross country teams placed third and fourth, respectively, among a quality field at the 2014 Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday morning. Despite wet and muddy course conditions, both teams had runners post good times across the board. 

The men finished with 94 points in the 6,000 meter race, edging Texas Tech by one point for third place in the 11-team field.  

Sophomore Colby Mehmen led the way for SFA, finishing in 18:31 - good enough for a fourth place finish overall. Mehmen was followed by a trio of Lumberjacks who crossed the finish line within a 10 second span. Sophomore Anthony Gallardo (18:56) finished 13th, redshirt freshman Jeffrey Weisheit (18:59) finished 15th and sophomore Josh Torres (19:06) came in 18th for SFA. 

"We had some guys really step up this week which was great to see," said head coach Cody Clark. "Our 1-4 spread was pretty good. We have some stuff to clean up on the back end of things, but overall we ran pretty well." 

Rounding out the point-earners for SFA was redshirt freshman Edwin Munoz (19:45) who finished 47th. 

Host Texas A&M won the event on the men's side with 54 points followed by Southland Conference rival Lamar with 56 points. SFA finished well ahead of Southland foes Texas A&M - Corpus Christi (164 pts.), Central Arkansas (180 pts.), Sam Houston State (262 pts.) and Houston Baptist (278 pts.). 

The women placed fourth overall in the 4,100 meter race with 87 points. Junior Shelby Pesek (14:43) was the first Ladyjack to cross the line in 13th place. Pesek was followed closely by two freshmen runners who gave the team a big boost with their times. True freshman Brittany Innis (14:46) finished just off Pesek's pace to finish 14th and redshirt freshman Courtney High (14:49) also ran a great race, claiming 16th place.

"It was really great to see those two freshman girls run well today," said Clark. "I was really proud of them. If [Innis] keeps progressing at her current rate, she will really make herself known in the conference this year. [High] has been battling injuries and still isn't quite 100 percent so we're excited to see what she will do this year."

Sophomores Samantha Ottman (15:01) and Katrina Fite (15:16) rounded out the scoring for SFA with 18th and 26th place finishes, respectively.   

Lamar won the event with 45 points, followed by Baylor (57 pts.) and Texas A&M (71 pts.). Texas Tech (104 pts.) came in 17 points behind SFA to close out the top five. 

Up next for SFA will be the Chile Pepper Festival in Fayetteville, Louisiana on Saturday, Oct. 4.

2014 Texas A&M Invitational Final Results

Men - 3rd place overall (94 pts.)
4. Colby Mehmen - 18:31
13. Anthony Gallardo - 18:56
15. Jeffrey Weisheit - 18:59
18. Josh Torres - 19:06
54. Edwin Munoz - 19:45
58. Connor McLain - 19:47
59. Quinlin McGregor - 19:48
98. Cody Brown - 20:37
99. Sam Wallace - 20:41
107. Kaleb Vasquez - 21:06 