BRYAN-COLLEGE STATION, Texas – Running the 10k for the first time at the collegiate level,
Brian Guevara paced the UT Arlington men's cross country team in its final race of the season on Friday morning at the NCAA South Central Regional Championship.
As a team, the Mavs finished in 14th place out of the 27 competing schools with 395 points, just one behind UTSA (394). Arkansas (49) and Texas (55) finished 1st and 2nd, respectively, to advance to next week's NCAA Championship.
Below were UTA's six point scorers, in order, from Texas A&M's Watts Cross Country Course:
50) Brian Guevara: 32:26.1
62) Patrick Estes: 32:52.3
83) Alfredo Reina Corona: 33:32.0
86) Tyler Rodriguez: 33:35.0
114) Rogelio Aguirre: 34:08.6
124) Tanner Henderson: 34:24.8
DNF) Jeriel Algarin-Marquez
Freshman Guevara led the Mavs across the finish line for the first time in his career. Additionally, it marked the first time in now six races this year that the trio of Estes, Reina-Corona and Aguirre did not – in some order – comprise UTA's top-3 finishers.
Estes and Reina Corona both established PRs, with Estes shaving an incredible 1:25 off his previous best of 34:17.9 set at last year's regional meet in Waco. Reina Corona, meanwhile, trimmed 14 seconds from his prior PR which also came at the 2021 NCAA Regional.
Rodriguez narrowly missed a PR of his own as he crossed just over a second behind his best of 33:33.6.
With the start of the race moved up 45 minutes to 9:30 a.m. so that incoming storms did not affect the course, UTA jumped out to a fast start, sitting in 4th place at the 2k split behind only Texas, Arkansas and Texas A&M.
The Mavs remained comfortably inside the top 10 in 7th place at the 4.2k mark, and resided in 10th at the 6.3k juncture. After slipping to 17th at the 7.7k split and down to 18th at the 9k point, UTA closed just as well as it opened, moving up four positions in the final 1k to secure the 14th-place position.
That placement ranked ahead of several Power 5/6 programs, including TCU (17th), Houston (18th) and LSU (23rd). Additionally, the Mavs finished in front of fellow Western Athletic Conference members UT Rio Grande Valley (15th), Stephen F. Austin (19th) and Sam Houston (25th).
"It was just a tough day all around for whatever reason, but we still had a fine season overall," commented head coach
John Sauerhage. "Now it's time for us to turn our focus to the indoor track and field season and get ready to chase a championship."
The top two teams and first four finishers at the regional not associated with those two teams advanced to the NCAA Championship on Nov. 19 in Stillwater, Okla.
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