Stephen F. Austin
Rice Invitational
Ladyjacks Come in Second, Lumberjacks Fifth at Rice Invitational
9/13/2019 8:20:00 PM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country
Ramirez posts runner-up finish on women's side, Kiplagat comes in fifth on men's end
Men's Results | Women's Results
HOUSTON - In its first full meet of the 2019 season, the SFA men's and women's cross country teams headed to Rice University to take part in the Rice Invitational Friday evening.
The Ladyjacks scored a runner-up finish in the eight-team field, besting the host Owls as well as Southland Conference competitors Lamar, Southeastern Louisiana, McNeese and Houston Baptist. Only Houston bettered the Ladyjacks.
Individually, it was junior Kelsey Ramirez who led the way for SFA by flirting with the individual title at the event. The LaPorte, Texas, native posted a runner-up finish by traversing the course in 13:45.25 - less than a half-second behind Rice's Khayla Patel who was clocked at 13:44.97 along the course.
Ramirez was one of three Ladyjacks who finished among the top ten as Madison Compass (14:23.81) and Rachel Taylor (14:25.84) crossed the finish line in eighth and ninth place respectively.
Rounding out the Ladyjacks' top five finishers were Taryn Surratt (12th, 14:37.36) and Claire Crone (14th, 14:39.42). Narrowly missing out on a top-20 finish was Megan Eichler (14:53.77) who came in 21st in the 70-woman field.
On the men's side, reigning Southland Conference Freshman of the Year Titus Kiplagat enjoyed a top-five showing, coming in fifth with a time of 19:57.63. The sophomore was SFA's lone top-15 finisher and helped the 'Jacks post a fifth-place team finish among the 10-team field.
Michael Urbina (20:17.27) and Parker Jones (20:22.82) posted 18th and 20th-place finishes respectively for SFA.
Coming in fourth for SFA was Maxwell Murphy (39th overall, 21:03.21) while Ben Murphy (56th, 21:49.23) claimed the 'Jacks' fifth-highest finish at the event.
Next up for the 'Jacks is a trip to College Station, Texas, to take part in the Arturo Barrios Invitational at Texas A&M. The meet is schedule for Saturday, Oct. 19.
Head coach Cody Clark quotes
On the women's race: Kelsey separated herself with the leaders right from the get-go. I felt like she looked really good and With her training she's right where she needs to be at this point in the season. There in the last 100 meters of the race, she got passed up at the very end by another runner, but I was still really proud of her and what she was able to accomplish. I'm proud of each member of our top five, too. You look at where Rachel Taylor finished as a true freshman and where Madison Compass finished in her first season of cross country they're both in the top ten tonight. Both Taryn and Clare are getting back to form, but once they return they're going to turn into top-ten finishers as well. I'm super pleased with our women overall. As we go to a 6K race, we're just going to be a better team based on how we train and what our ceiling is.
On the men's race: Titus did really well tonight and that's a result of what he has done in the offseason. He's where he needs to be right now, but when we up the distance another mile, he's going to be a lot better. Our two true freshmen really stepped up today and had a great race and they're going to be better over an 8K course as well. One thing that really hurt is was when Yoel Yoel got pushed down and fell during the course of the race. He ended up as a DNF and that hurt us tremendously. Overall I was really happy with our top three. The Murphy twins stepped up and have done a complete 180 in their training which is exciting as we continue our season as well.
-SFA-
