Hard cross country running

Sept. 13 the Texas A&M University- Commerce cross country team traveled to Memphis, Tenn., for their first meet of the season. The results were impressive. "Our times were a little better than last year. Last year it was our third meet, and this year it was our first, so we are very happy with the times and the finishes," Rich Lawrence, coach, said.

Usually teams get increasingly faster as the season progresses, so these results are a good indicator that this year's team will be an improvement on last year's. 41 men's teams competed, with 29 schools running full teams. The majority of the teams were Division I schools. A&M Commerce came in sixth, beating out all but one of the Division II teams. Five out of the six A&M-Commerce runners placed in the top 100, with Tyler Tyndell finishing 13th out of 238 to lead the way. Freshman Cody Hughes and junior Ryan Reed finished 23rd and 40th, respectively. Hughes had the third best time of any freshman runner. Sophomore Brandon Womack finished 58th, with junior Geraldo Delafuente right behind him in 59th. Sophomore Logan Kelly was 123rd.

"I was extremely pleased with the competitiveness of the men's team. Any time you beat that many Division I schools you have to be happy," Lawrence said. "It was a very good performance."

The men's team added walk-on Ray Moreno of Paris, Texas, who will compete in the next meet.

The women's team did not send a full team to the meet. Stephanie Hodge sustained an injury and wasn't able to run, and Savanah Brookings had problems with her eligibility. Both runners are expected to make the next meet.

Sophomore Kate Donovan finished in 114th place out of 275.

"I was very proud of Kate. She went out and was very competitive for the first half of the race and kept up with the herd," Lawrence said. Gaby Grear, Mindy Solorio, and Holly Langford finished 216th, 233rd, and 263rd, respectively.

A&M-Commerce's next meet takes place on Sept. 27th in San Antonio, Texas.