‘Jacks Impress in College Station; Men Finish Third, Women Place Fifth in Large Fields

Friday, October 17

College Station, TX

8:30 A.M.

Stephen F. Austin

Arturo Barrios Invitational

‘Jacks Impress in College Station; Men Finish Third, Women Place Fifth in Large Fields

10/17/2025 10:49:00 AM | Men's Cross Country, Women's Cross Country

Men's 8K Results Women's 6K Results

Both squads run past familiar foes; SFA Men add Ohio State, Texas Tech to defeated list, while SFA Women knock off Oklahoma, Ohio State and Texas Tech among others

COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Add more high-quality results to the 2025 ledger for both Stephen F. Austin cross country teams as both programs raced to impressive finishes amongst deep and talented fields at the always competitive Arturo Barrios Invitational on Friday morning from the Watts Cross Country Course in Aggieland. The SFA Men rolled to a third-place finish among a 32-team 8K field, while the SFA Women raced to a fifth-place 6K result among 37 teams. Both teams were the top finishing non-G5/P4 program in their respective runs.

The SFA Men continued its dominant campaign as the 'Jacks' team finish was better than Power 4 programs GLR #6 Ohio State (111), MR #10 Texas Tech (185), SCR #8 TCU (255) and SCR #10 Houston (333) as well as placing just a dozen points back of SR #3 Middle Tennessee State. Additionally, the Lumberjacks finished ahead of SLC opposition Incarnate Word who entered the meet ranked a single spot of ahead of the 'Jacks in the latest USTFCCCA ratings as well as fellow SLC members Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (8^th), Lamar (20^th), McNeese (24^th), New Orleans (29^th) and Nicholls (31^st).

Nathan Kapel finished as the top Lumberjack for the second time this season with an 8K time of 23:02.7 for a sixth-place finish in the 323-runner field. He placed 26 seconds back of the individual champion. Riley Elliott was less than 35 seconds back of Kapel as the second 'Jack to cross and he did so with a 16^th place time of 23:36.7. Paul Kiprotich also recorded a top 20 placement at 23:42.9. Ryan Binskin finished just outside the top 30 of the large field with a 32^nd place time of 23:52.9, while Andrew Mullen crossed inside the field's top 40 at a 37^th place time of 23:55.7 to round out SFA's scorers on Friday morning. Lathan Lewter posted a top 60 time at 24:14.7 and Sam Golla produced a top 80 result in 78^th place with a finish of 24:21.4.

The SFA Women knocked off seven SLC foes as well as MR #8 Oklahoma, GLR #8 Ohio State and Texas Tech among other G5 and P4 programs. The 'Jacks beat out SCR #8 Rice and SCR #9 Texas A&M-Corpus Christi; both of which SFA jumped in the most recent USTFCCCA regional rankings. Additionally, SFA pushed SCR #6 SMU, ranked a single spot higher regionally, which finished just 13 points better than the 'Jacks on Friday morning.

For the fourth-straight meet, Valentine Jemutai paced the SFA Women and did so with a top 10 showing in the 311-runner field by placing ninth in 19:52.3; 56 seconds back of the top individual finisher and the fourth-fastest non-Power 4 time. Mercy Kipchumba logged a top 40 showing as she crossed in 36^th place with a finish of 20:40.2. Aiding the top five team placement was Sharon Omwoyo (20:57.5) and Trude Lamb (20:57.7) who placed 52^nd and 53^rd respectively, a difference of just .2 seconds as the 'Jacks positioned four runners in the field's top 55 and its fifth, Garance Dubray, in the top 60 at 58^th overall with a finish of 21:05.3. Lizi McGuire (22:08.6) and Keara Zver (22:16.7) both finished in the top half of the field.

SCR = South Central Region | GLR = Great Lakes Region | MR = Midwest Region | SR = South Region

UP NEXT
The 'Jacks are back in action in two weeks for the Southland Conference Championships on Halloween morning in Natchitoches, Louisiana. SFA performed well at the SLC Preview Meet in mid-September and will head back through the Sabine National Forest eyeing hardware. Live results of the SLC Championships will be made available at www.sfajacks.com.

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