Oct. 14, 2006

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - Freshman Armando Saldivar (Fort Worth, Texas) waited a long time to make his collegiate debut. His top 100-finish at arguably the best cross country event in the country proves he can run with the nation's best.

Saldivar ran a time of 31-minutes, 17.0-seconds for 79th-place at the 2006 Tyson/Chili Pepper Invitational here Saturday.

The finish may get lost in the Sunday sports section, but Saldivar's time shows he can help the Mavericks as they prepare for the 2006 Southland Conference Championships in Nacogdoches, Texas, Oct. 27.

"I thought we competed well with our conference opponents," said UT Arlington Head Cross Country Coach John Sauerhage. "Competing in this meet, with 11 of the top 20 teams in the nation participating, is a great experience for our kids. I thought we ran well and we have everyone healthy heading into the conference meet."

Junior Jody Broccoli-Hickey (The Woodlands, Texas) was the top Maverick with a time of 30:53.1.

Texas-El Paso won the men's competition with 64 points. Arkansas (77), Abilene Christina (101), Alabama (104), Lamar (169), California (175), Virginia Tech (274), James Madison (324), Lehigh (330) and Wake Forest (345) rounded out the top 10 teams.

Abilene Christian's Nicodemis Naimadu won the individual competition with a time of 23:22.8.

Here are the UT Arlington results at the 2006 Tyson/Chili Pepper Invitational Saturday.

55, Jody Broccoli-Hickey 30:53.1; 79, Armando Saldivar 31:17.0; 154, Idilio Campos 32:26.0; 207, Ivan Pinal 33:33.8; 212, Ozie Hood 33:41.5; 249, Zack Davis 35:04.9; 273, Dustin Poe 37:05.7; 278, Jeff Raines 37:47.3.