GRAND PRAIRIE, Texas - The 2023 UT Dallas cross country season started on Saturday at the DBU Orville Rogers XC Opener at Lynn Creek Park. The Comet men placed second, while the women finished fourth.

The UTD men recorded 45 points, finishing behind host Dallas Baptist (17), while beating out North Central Texas (100), East Texas Baptist (108), Southwest (153) and Southwestern Assemblies of God (161).

Results

Senior Graeme Maclean took fifth place with an 8K time of 26:15.5 with sophomore Christopher Castro just behind in sixth place in 26:17.3. Freshman Frank Douglas was 10th in 27:09.6 and sophomore Javion Zavala finished 12th in 27:17.5. Sophomore Andy Hamze rounded out the scoring for the Comets in 27:55.4, finishing 16th. 

The Comet women recorded 120 points, placing behind DBU (16), Midwestern State (53) and ETBU (120). They beat NCTC (128) and SAGU (163).

Junior Rebeca Betanzo was the top runner with a 5K mark of 19:13.1. Junior Sage Herrera followed in 19th in 19:46.2 and senior Jocelyn Heckenkamp was 45th in 21:23.5. Freshman Emily Skrabanek was 46th at 21:40.7 and fellow newcomer Maiyah Phoummarath took 48th place in 21:58.1.

UT Dallas Men Notes
- Maclean's time was the ninth-best 8K mark in program history.
- Castro moved into sixth place on the Comet individual 8K list.
- Four returnees recorded career-best marks - Castro, Zavala, Hamze and Luke Pearson.
- Seven freshman made their collegiate debut for UTD - Colton Dillard, Frank Douglas, Barak Geary, Erik Grover, Kaleb Jessie, Aadhi Sivakumar and Jerry Wang.

UT Dallas Women Notes
- Betanzo recorded a career-best 5K time and and had the seventh-fastest mark in program history.
- Heckenkamp also had a personal best mark.
- Five Comets made their debut for UTD - Skrabanek, Phoummarath, Becki Jeffery, Ellie Suo-Anttila and Kaitlyn King.

Up Next
UT Dallas will compete at the Southwestern Showdown in Georgetown, Texas on Saturday, September 16.