XC: Men place sixth, women 11th at NCAA Regionals
11/14/2014 12:00:00 AM | Cross Country
FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – The UT Arlington men’s and women’s cross country seasons came to a close Friday despite strong performances on both sides at the NCAA South Central Regional Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. Both teams improved upon last year’s regional finishes, with the men placing sixth and the women taking 11th.
“We put up a good fight in both divisions,” UTA coach John Sauerhage said. “It was an impressive way to cap off a strong season for both our men’s and women’s teams.”
The men totaled 166 points, just two points behind fifth-place Stephen F. Austin and 11 ahead of seventh-place Texas A&M. The only other teams ahead of UTA on the leaderboard were Arkansas, Texas, Lamar and North Texas.
For the third straight year, Craig Lautenslager paced the Mavericks at the regional meet, and for the second consecutive year he finished among the top 20 and claimed all-region honors. He navigated the 10k layout in 30:16.3 to finish 14th.
The junior once again narrowly missed out on an individual trip to the NCAA Championships. The top four individuals not on the two qualifying teams advance to the national meet, and Lautenslager was sixth on that list, 15 seconds off the necessary time.
It was the best individual finish for a UTA athlete since Idillio Campos placed 13th at the 2008 meet. The team’s finish was its best in more than a decade.
Eric Ojeda followed closely behind Lautenslager, placing 23rd in 30:22.8 to pick up his first career all-region accolades and give the Mavericks the rare accomplishment of having two all-region performers.UTA had three other runners in the upper third of the field. Freshman Michael Guerrero was 34th in 30:43.6, Ryan Tilotta took 43rd in 31:03.2 and Virgilio Martinez nailed down 52nd in 31:20.3. Grant Copeland, UTA’s other finisher, was 71st (31:41.80).The women kicked off the day by coming in 11th as a team, one notch higher than last year’s regional placement. With 254 points, the Mavericks were just five points behind 10th-place Arkansas State, one of the squads UTA defeated two weeks ago en route to the Sun Belt Conference championship.
Gabriela Alfonzo was the top finisher for the Mavericks, placing 26th with a 6k clocking of 21:16.7. She missed all-region distinction by just one place. It was the best South Central Regional placement by a UTA woman since Emily Koenig was 20th in 2010.
Hannah Nilsson joined Alfonzo in the top 50 among the 142 runners, coming in 42nd in 21:38.7. UTA had back-to-back finishers in 56th and 57th with Katelyn Hayward (21:54.4) and Ashly Wright (21:57.6), respectively.
Tori Shelton was the Mavericks’ final point scorer, as the freshman placed 87th in 22:43.8. Sydney Hampton (104th, 23:12.8) and Tamerah Gorham (117th, 23:36.5) rounded out the UTA contingent.
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