ABILENE, Texas - The UT Dallas men's and women's cross country teams will compete for the 2023 American Southwest Conference Championship Saturday at the Abilene Christian University Cross Country Course in Abilene Saturday morning.

The men will start the morning with an 8K race at 9 a.m., followed by the women's 6K at 10:15 a.m.

The meet had to be moved due to flooding at the original venue in Grand Prairie, Texas.

The Comet men have won three of the last five titles and was the runner-up in 2021 and 2022. UTD has had a spectacular season with a win in the Prairie Fire race of the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival and a pair of runner-up finishes at the Orville Rogers XC Opener and Watson Collegiate Classic, respectively.

Sophomore Christopher Castro and senior Graeme Maclean have combined to record the three fastest 8K times in program history this season, with Castro coming in at 25:19.7 at the DBU Old Glory Gallop. 

Maclean is the defending ASC Individual Medalist after breaking the conference record with a time of 25:34.6 in last year's race. Senior Devan Bailey is a two-time All-ASC Second Team honoree, placing 14th last year and 10th in 2021.

Freshmen Zach Johnson and Frank Douglas look to make an impact, as they have the ninth and tenth best 8K times in school history, respectively, this season. 

In five meets this season, Maclean has been the top Comet three times, Castro once and freshman Barak Geary once.

ASC Men's Cross Country Championship Central
ASC Women's Cross Country Championship Central.

The Comet women have placed in the top four of the ASC Championship each of the past 10 seasons, including conference titles in 2016 and 2017. They have competed in five meets this fall and have a trio of fourth place finishes, including the Prairie Fire division of the Chile Pepper Festival.

Junior Rebeca Betanzo leads UTD with the second-fastest 6K time in the conference and eighth in program history in 23:10.7. She finished ninth a year ago at the championship. This season, Betanzo has been the top runner for the Comets in all five meets and has a win at the Southwestern Showdown and a third-place finish at the Chile Pepper.

A two-time All-ASC First Team selection, junior Sage Herrera has the seventh-best time in the ASC this season and 19th in school history. She finished sixth at last year's ASC Championship and was third as a freshman.

Freshman Maiayah Phoummarath ranks 20th in the Comets' 6K individual all-time list while senior Jocelyn Heckenkamp is 23rd.