NACOGDOCHES, Texas – Ten years after winning UT Arlington's first-ever Western Athletic Conference Championship, the Mavericks' cross country teams embark on a new chapter with the same goal when UTA races for the 2022 WAC Championships Saturday morning.
 
TOURNAMENT INFO
Action is scheduled to get underway with the women's 6k at 8 a.m. followed by the men's 8k at 9 a.m. from Pecan Acres Park. Rain is forecasted throughout Friday and into Saturday in east Texas, so any changes will be posted on UTAMavs.com and/or the program's official Twitter account @UTAMavsTFXC.
 
Links to live results for both the women's and men's races can be found attached to this release. There will be no streaming broadcast.
 
MEN'S RACE
In UTA's lone previous year in the WAC in 2012-13, the Maverick men won the conference championship after being predicted earlier that week to finish 5th by the league's coaches in the pre-championship poll. Fast forward a decade and back in the WAC, UTA finds itself in exactly the same position – picked to finish 5th by the coaches earlier this week.
 
The Mavs have been led this year by the trio of Patrick Estes, Alfredo Reina Corona and freshman Rogelio Aguirre. Those three each finished in the top-3 for UTA in all four regular-season meets this year.
 
Sophomore Reina Corona finished as UTA's leader in each of the first two races of the year, including winning the UTA Season Opener, while junior Estes has led the Mavs each of the past two meets.
 
In the most recent USTFCCCA South Central Region Poll released last week, the UTA men reside in a season-high position of 8th – the highest-placing WAC member in the region.
 
WOMEN'S RACE
On the women's side, freshman Lauren Walls-Portillo went a perfect 4-for-4 in leading UTA in races this year. Running the 6k for the first time in her collegiate career two weeks ago at Texas A&M's Arturo Barrios Invitational, the El Paso native clocked a time of 22:21.3.
 
The young and improving women's roster features four freshmen, one sophomore with the lone senior being Mathilde Ruud. The Norwegian Ruud and sophomore Claire Compher are the only Mavs with conference championship experience who will be lacing up on Saturday.
 
Freshmen Rachael Hartley, Scarlett Johnson and Krianne McBride will round out the UTA runners as the Mavs will look to place much higher than their predicted 9th-place finish by the WAC coaches in the pre-championship poll released earlier this week.
 
FAMILIAR TRACK
Last month, both teams competed at Pecan Acres Park as part of Stephen F. Austin's Lumberjack Collegiate Invitational, with the UTA men winning the meet and the Maverick women placing 3rd. The men ran an 8k – the same distance they'll race on Saturday – while the women traversed a 5k.
 
Reina Corona finished 3rd overall with a time of 24:22.6 to set a PR. Running the 8k for the first time at the collegiate level, Aguirre finished 5th with a PR of 24:22.6. Right on his heels was Estes, who crossed in 6th place (24:45.9) to also notch a PR.
 
Sophomore Ole Miss transfer Jeriel Algarin-Marquez made his debut in the orange and blue with a 7th-place finish (24:47.1), while freshman Brian Guevara rounded out the scoring for UTA with a time of 25:16.1 and a 12th-place showing.
 
On the women's side, Walls-Portillo led the Mavs with a time of 17:45.9 to earn her first-career top-10 finish as she came in 9th. McBride followed with a time of 17:57.7 to place 14th, while Hartley posted a time of 18:10.8.
 
Compher ran to a time of 18:26.3 to cross in 17th, while Johnson rounded out the Mavs with a 22nd-place crossing in 18:55.6. All five times for the UTA women represented PRs.
 
NEXT UP
Following the WAC Championships, qualifiers will next race at the NCAA South Central Regional on Friday, Nov. 11, from the Watts Cross Country Course in Bryan-College Station.
 
FOLLOW ALONG
Follow the UTA track and field and cross country teams on Twitter (@UTAMavsTFXC), Instagram (@UTAMavsTFXC) and Facebook (/UTAMavsTFXC).