FORT WORTH, Texas – UT Arlington cross country is opening its 2026 campaign close to home. The Mavericks host the Gerald Richey UTA Invitational on Friday at the Rolling Hills Soccer Complex in Fort Worth.

UTA originally planned to open its season with the John McKenzie Invitational hosted by TCU at AP Ranch in Fort Worth this past Friday, but couldn't compete due to an illness within the team.

Competition at the Gerald Richey begins with the collegiate women's 5k at 7:30 a.m. and will be followed by the collegiate men's 5k. High school events will begin following the completion of the collegiate men's 5k.

UTA enters the event ranked 10th in the USTFCCCA Men's South Central Regional rankings and seventh in the women's regional rankings.

Joining UTA at the event are Abilene Christian, East Texas A&M, Dallas Baptist, Paul Quinn College, Southwestern Christian College, Texas Wesleyan and UNT Dallas.

The Mavericks return a number of athletes from a strong 2025 season that saw them finish top 10 in regionals for both the men's and women's teams. Dorcas Jepkosgei headlines the returning group after representing the program at the NCAA Cross Country Championships — where she finished 136th out of 262 runners in the women's 6k — and being named WAC Cross Country Women's Freshman of the Year . 

Jepkosgei and 18 other Mavericks will make their season debut at the Gerald Richey. The lineup will feature seven women and all 12 men on the roster.
 

Women	Men
Lauren Baur	Toby Eaton
Abigail Perez	Angel Sanchez
Justina Lusby	Mateo Doherty
Sophia Hamdani	Kebede Kerlin
Connie Chiptoo	Jameson Stewart
Matro Jepkemboi	Lucas Whitt
Dorcas Jepkosgei	Daniel Armstrong
	Kellen Frickel
	Hudson Irvine
	Wesley Payne
	Collin Woodside

INSIDE THE LINEUP
Women

• The entire women's roster with the exception of Emilia Mandl will compete.
• Lauren Baur, Abigail Perez and Justin Lusby return for what will be their third cross country season at UTA. The trio competed in all six team meets during the 2025 season.
• Sophia Hamdani is making her first collegiate appearance. The freshman is coming off an accomplished career at Bellaire High School in which she won cross country district championships all four years in the 5k.
• Connie Chiptoo is making her first cross country appearance with UTA, but did appear in two outdoor track meets with the Mavericks during the 2026 outdoor track season.
• Dorcas Jepkosgei enters the season as the program record holder in 5k after running the event in a time of 16:09.5 at the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival in 2025. She also holds the indoor 3,000 meter record for UTA after clocking a time of 9:35.26 at the Charlie Thomas Invitational.
• Jepkosgei was named WAC Women's Cross Country Athlete of the Week three consecutive times during her freshman season and also earned four conference medals in both cross country and track and field, including a silver in the 6k. 
• Matro Jepkemboi enters her senior season as one of UTA's more accomplished runners. In her first three seasons, Jepkemboi has laid claim to three different program records — Indoor 5,000m (16:13.81), Outdoor 5,000m (16:14.72) and Outdoor 10,000m (34:10.78) and earned seven conference medals.
• Jepkemboi finished in the top 10 in four of the six cross country events she competed in over the course of the 2025 season.

Men

• The entire men's roster will compete.
• Toby Eaton, Angel Sanchez, Mateo Doherty, Kebede Kerlin, Collin Woodside and Jameson Stewart all are entering their second cross country season with UTA. Kerlin and Eaton previously competed at Tarleton State while Sanchez began his career at Oklahoma State. Woodside and Stewart are each entering their sophomore seasons after spending their freshman year at UTA.
• Kellen Frickel is entering his first cross country season with the Mavericks after spending the previous three at Tarleton State. Frickel joined UTA for the track and field season in the spring of 2026.
• Wesley Payne is entering his first season at UTA after spending his first two seasons at Dallas Baptist. Payne set a personal-best time of 16:26.5 in the 5k at the 2025 edition of the Gerald Richey UTA Invitational.
• Hudson Irvine will make his UTA cross country debut after competing in six track meets with the Mavericks in the spring of 2026.
• Lucas Whitt is the lone men's freshman on the Mavericks cross country roster. Whitt qualified for state three times while competing at Waxahachie High School.
• Eaton, Kerlin and Sanchez each competed in all six team meets in 2025. Eaton and Kerlin also each set personal best times in the 5k and 10k.
• While this is set to be Daniel Armstrong's fourth season at UTA, the Gerald Richey will be just the second cross country meet he's competed in as a Maverick, the other being the Arturo Barrios Invitational in 2024.

Meet Information
Date: Sept. 11, 2026
Women's 5K / 7:30 a.m.
Men's 5K / 7:55 a.m.
Location: ROLLING HILLS SOCCER COMPLEX: 2525 Joe B Rushing Road Fort Worth, TX 76119 
Live Results FOLLOW ALONG
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