Recently the Texas A&M University-Commerce men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in two different meets.
The first was held by the university of the incarnate word on sept. 27. It was the first time this season that the men and women’s teams had run 10,000 and 8,000 meters, respectively.
The men’s team placed first overall, thanks to second, third and fourth place individual finishes by tyler tyndell, robert reed, and cody hughes. Junior gerardo delafuente finished 8th and sophomore brandon womack finished 12th. “I was very happy with the men’s finish,” coach rich lawrence said.
On the women’s side, sophomore kate donovan led the way with a 12th place finish. Redshirt freshman mindy solario finished 32nd, freshman gabrielle greer was right behind her in 33rd, and junior holly langford wasn’t far behind in 35th.
Lawrence pointed out the strategy behind running the uiw invitational. “We will be competing in the south central conference regional championships on nov. 8, Which is held on uiw campus,” lawrence said. The team viewed the competition as a warm-up for the regional competition, which the men’s team and donovan have qualified for.
This past week the teams competed at the cowboy jamboree held by oklahoma state university. In an event made up of mainly division i schools, a&m-commerce placed 14th in the men’s competition, fifth among division ii teams.
Tyndell led the way for the men by finishing in 38th. Donovan placed 78th on the women’s side.
The cross country team’s next competition will be the lone star conference regional championships on oct. 25.
On a more personal note, the cross country team had been undergoing discussions with the university concerning dr. Jason wicke. Since wicke teaches courses for the university and works with the cross country team, there was some conflict over whether or not his involvement with the cross country team was taking away from his commitment to teaching. Thankfully, the issue has been resolved and wicke will continue to work with the cross country team while teaching for the university.
With their coach back the team will look to improve their times.