The St. Thomas men's and women's cross-country teams traveled to Fayetteville, AR, on Saturday to compete in one of the largest cross-country meets in the country, the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival hosted by SEC University of Arkansas. The Meet featured NCAA schools from all divisions, including Murray State, LSU, Tarleton State, UC Santa Barbara, Dalla Baptist, UT Dallas, Arkansas-Fort Smith, Ozarks, and, of Course, the host Razorbacks.
Women's Recap
Since they traveled all the way to Northwest Arkansas, why not compete against the best. The Celts women's side were placed in an incredibly strong heat along with NCAA D1 schools Texas, Rice, and Arkansas. The heat also included NCAA D2 schools Arkansas-Fort Smith, and UT Dallas. St. Thomas was led by senior Samantha Hernandez, who continues to look strong in her final campaign. Hernandez led the Celts, finishing the hilly course with a time of 20:26. Not far behind Hernandez was Alejandra Ramon at 20:39. Senior Elizabeth Stepaniak secured the 3rd spot for the Celts', crossing the finish line in 25:51. Kianna Stamps and Gizelle Gonzalez rounded out the scoring for UST.
Women's Final Results
Men's Recap
The Men's team was not placed in as quite a fast heat and they took advantage and continued to look very strong as a team. The UST men were led by senior Marc Mendoza, who finished with an impressive 12th-place finish out of 214 runners. Mendoza crossed the line in 27:13. Freshman Johnathon Castro is quickly learning how to navigate Cross Country at the Collegiate and continues to improve. Castro claimed 15th place with a time of 27:22. Mason McFeeters has become very reliable and finished 3rd for UST and 25th overall at a solid 27:54. Junior Juan Silva and Sophomore Diego Moya secured the final two scoring spots for the Celts to help St. Thomas grab sixth-place finish out of 25 teams.
Men's Final Results
Up Next
The Celts will take two weeks to prepare for their next meet on Saturday, October 12th when they travel to San Antonio to compete in the West Side Classic. For updates, please visit www.ustcelts.com or follow @USTathletics and @usttxctf on Instagram.
