ABILENE, TX (08.30.19) - The defending American Southwest Conference men's cross country champion UT Dallas Comets got a big boost from their freshman class as they opened their title defense with a first-place finish at the Hardin-Simmons Cross Country Invitational Friday evening.
UTD took three of the first four places in the men's 4K run, and tallied 26 points, three better than host Hardin-Simmons (29). Odessa College and Schreiner rounded out the field.
In the two-team women's 4K, the Comets finished second behind HSU, 15-46.
COMPLETE MEN'S RESULTS
COMPLETE WOMEN'S RESULTS
UTD freshmanÂ
Joseph Kirby (13:21.68), sophomore Trent Sakanini (13:26.13) and freshman
Griffin Davis (13:33.79) finished second, third and fourth behind HSU's Eric Monroy, who posted the winning time of 13:21.49, just over a second ahead of Kirby. Another freshman,
Leon Valdman (13:48.79), took seventh place while senior
John Gabriel (13:53.05)Â rounded out the top 10 with a 10th place finish.
Other men representing the Comets were Christopher Reyna,
Joel Guzman,
Christian Kondor, John Newton,
Adrel Aparicio, andÂ
Sharan Venkateshwar.
A pair of UTD freshmen women were among the top finishers in the women's race. Newcomers
Elizabeth Chimitt (17:14.80) and
Rachel Kahler (17:35.27) took sixth and seventh place behind five HSU runners who led the field. Junior
Rebecca Spiegel (17:56.47) finished in the top ten. Other Comet women runners were
Brittany Parga,
Gina Fossati, and
Katherine Merola.
The two teams return to the course next Thursday at the Endurance House Stampede at Midwestern State in Wichita Falls.
Â
