SFA Heads to Huntsville for SLC Championships
10/29/2015 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
2015 Southland Conference Championships
Friday, October 30
Country Campus Golf Course • Huntsville, Texas
Women’s 6k – 9:00 a.m. • Men’s 8k – 10:00 a.m.
Twitter Updates: @SFA_TFXC
Live Results
NACOGDOCHES, Texas – The Stephen F. Austin men’s and women’s cross country teams are set to compete in the 2015 Southland Conference Championships, hosted this year by Sam Houston State in Huntsville, Texas at the Country Campus Golf Course on Friday morning. The women’s 6,000-meter run will begin at 9:00 a.m., followed by the men’s 8,000-meter race at 10:00 a.m.
The event was originally scheduled to be held at Kate Barr Ross Park, but heavy rainfall in the area made the course unusable for Friday’s races.
“We really have to go out and run like we’re the ones with a target on our backs,” said cross country coach Cody Clark. “I think we’ve got to go out and be aggressive and get after people. If we run with a chip on our shoulder, I think some good things can happen on Friday morning.”
Both the SFA men and women are coming off successful conference showings in 2014 as each squad took runner-up honors. Junior Charles Mathenge highlighted the day last year by claiming second individually with an 8k school record time of 23:42 to earn First Team All-SLC honors. He was also named the SLC Newcomer of the Year for his efforts.
Fellow junior Colby Mehmen also ran well at the 2014 championship meet, taking eighth with a time of 24:21 to garner Second Team All-SLC recognition. The Lumberjacks tallied 48 points overall to come up just shy of Lamar’s 26 points.
The men will be looking for the program’s first team and individual SLC title since current cross country coach Cody Clark won the league meet in 2005 to help the ‘Jacks take first place overall. SFA has five team championships on the men’s side all-time.
The women also return all of their top runners from the 2014 SLC race at Northwestern State. The Ladyjacks took second behind a trio of Second Team All-SLC performers in Courtney High (6th – 21:01), Samantha Ottman (7th – 21:04) and Brittany Innis (8th – 21:04). SFA posted 50 points at the event behind 20 points from Lamar.
The Ladyjacks haven’t won an SLC team title since 2012 but still lead the league with seven championships all-time. The last female winner for SFA was Lauren Smith in back-to-back years from 2011-12.
Both the SFA men and women look strong again this year and have already posted some good results. In his first meet of the 2015 season at Texas A&M, Mathenge broke his own 8k mark with a time of 23:32 and took second individually in a talented field. The 2014 NCAA National Championships qualifier then placed 20th out of a packed 288-man field at the NCAA Pre-National Invitational on Oct. 17 in Louisville, Kentucky. He will be one of the favorites to win it all at the SLC competition on Friday.
Senior Nick Guerra and redshirt sophomore Jeffrey Weisheit have also ran well in 2015. The duo took second and third, respectfully, at the SLC Championship Preview Meet in Huntsville on Sept. 12, and certainly have the potential to finish among the leaders again at the real deal this Friday.
Senior leader Shelby Pesek has been the star for the Ladyjacks so far this season, pacing the team in all three of her races to-date. She won the SLC Preview Meet on Sept. 12 in her first race of the year and set a season-best time of 21:02 at Texas A&M on Sept. 26. Last year at the SLC meet, Pesek finished 13th after crossing in 21:29.
The men will be represented by eight runners on Friday morning as Mathenge, Mehmen, Guerra, Weisheit, Cody Brown, Matt Farina, Anthony Gallardo and Josh Torres will all toe the line. The women’s top eight making the trip will be Pesek, High, Ottman, Innis, Taylor Anderson, Katrina Fite, Mary Luster and Rana Ryan.
“Both of our teams will have to run nearly perfect to win the team titles this year, but we are very capable of doing just that,” said Clark. “It’s going to be exciting to see who is going to step up and who is going to push the limits a little bit. Hopefully we can bring home some trophies when it is all said and done.”
Both championship races will air live on the Southland Conference Periscope account. Follow @SouthlandSports on Periscope or Twitter to be alerted when the broadcast begins. In addition, race highlights and interviews will be posted to the Southland Conference Digital Network, available via southland.org/watch and the Southland Conference app.
SFA specific live updates will be provided via Twitter as well (@SFA_TFXC).
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