The Texas A&M Kingsville cross country team made the trip north to compete in the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday, Sept. 25, at College Station, Texas. The Invitational took place at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course. This cross country venue has hosted cross country meets such as the SEC Championships in 2015 and the NCAA South Central Region meet for three years. The Women’s cross country team came in ninth overall. They ranked behind teams such as champions of the meet, Texas A&M, Rice and Texas A&M International. The Javelinas competed against many Division I schools along with some of their Division II rivals.
Sophomore Kristen Aleman (Santa Maria, Texas) came in 74th place in the women’s division.
“I feel we did extremely well this past meet on the women’s side since we all ran our personal bests of the season,” Aleman said. “Personally, I was really pumped for that race because I felt good, the course was perfect, and it was a beautiful morning. That was definitely one of my best races of this season and I felt very proud of myself.”
The top finisher for the women’s team was Odette Fernandez (Grulla,Texas) coming in at 48th overall. Other top performers for the Javelinas included Destinee Longoria, (Weslaco, Texas) 51st, and Desiree Guerra (Santa Rosa, Texas) 57th.
The men’s cross country team also competed at the meet. The University of North Texas won the bragging rights in the men’s division with Texas A&M University finishing second. The strongest finisher for Texas A&M Kingsville was Coty Fountain coming in 68th overall. Freshman Mathew Moralez (Premont, Texas) and freshman Elan Guerra (Houston, Texas) finished in the top 100 in the men’s cross country division.