ARLINGTON, Texas – The UT Arlington cross country teams look to build off the results from their season opener last Saturday as they prepare to host the annual Gerald Richey UTA Invitational at Lynn Creek Park at Joe Pool Lake on Saturday, Sep. 7, morning.
The collegiate women's 5k is slated to begin at 7:30 a.m. with the men's 5k to follow at approximately 7:45 a.m.
TCU, Abilene Christian, UT Dallas, Dallas Baptist, Texas A&M – Kingsville, Texas Wesleyan and Southwestern Assemblies of God University along with the host Mavericks will be the teams featured at the meet.
"Excited to compete with a full line up on both sides," said Head Coach John Sauerhage. "It's a great course at Joe Pool and we're expecting great weather also."
The Mavs come off the season opener where the men finished third and the women finished fourth down in Fort Worth at the John McKenzie Invitational hosted by TCU.
Winnie Kipsang began the season with a bang, finishing third with a time of 18:10.65 to pace the women's team.
Emilia Mandl had a top 20 finish in her debut in the blue and orange, coming in at 16th with a time of 19:15.72. The women had no one finish outside the top 40 in their first race of the season.
Coming into this weekend, reigning WAC Freshman of the Year
Matro Jepkemboi makes her return to the course after missing the season opener. At last year's Gerald Richey UTA Invitational, Jepkemboi made her collegiate debut before having the best cross country season for a woman in program history.
On the men's side,
Patrick Estes led the way with a top 10 finish, placing ninth with a time of 15:15.39.
Jackson Cichon clocked in with a time of 15:25.63 while finishing 14th overall. Andrés Gurrola rounded out the top 20 for the Mavs, coming in at 17th with a time of 15:28.61. The men had no one finish outside the top 30 in the first race of the year.
The men's team come into the meet ranked ninth while the women enter ranked 11th in the South Central Region of the Preseason Regional Rankings Poll released by USTFCCCA last week. Updated week one regional polls will be releasing on September 16.
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