The Sam Houston State University Cross Country squads opened up the 2008 season Friday night at the Johnny Morriss Invitational, hosted by the University of Houston.
The women's team placed 2nd with 53 points while the men's team finished 3rd with 51 points.
Leading the way for the women was sophomore Molly Farrell who finished 4th individually, covering the 2-mile course in 12-minutes 13-seconds. Following closely behind her were freshmen Victoria Gemeny and Haleigh Pustka, who finished 5th and 9th, respectively.
The individual men's race was won by SHSU freshman, Taylor Ray, who led the race from start to finish. Ray's finishing time of 14-minutes 55-seconds was 11 seconds faster than the second place finisher. The Bearkat's second runner across the finish line was freshmen Joey D'Eramo. D'Eramo finished 3rd overall with a finishing time of 15-minutes 9-seconds.
“I feel like this was a good start to our season. Our top end competitors all ran very well, and I expect them to get better every meet,” said Coach Jesse Parker. “I am a little concerned about our 5th and 6th runners for both teams. We still have 9 weeks before the conference meet and I'm confident someone will step up for us, but right now it is an area of concern for us.”
The Bearkat Cross Country squads will return to action on September 13th at the Texas A&M Invitational.
Women's Team Finishes
1st University of Houston 22 points
2nd Sam Houston State University 53 points
3rd Houston Baptist University 55 points
4th Prairie View A&M University 113 points
SHSU Women's Individual Finishes
4th Molly Farrell 12:13
5th Victoria Gemeny 12:15
9th Haleigh Pustka 12:31
17th Amanda Warren 13:29
18th Devyn Mitchell 13:34
20th Bridget Costello 13:54
Men's Team Finishes
1st University of Houston 36 points
2nd Rice University 38 points
3rd Sam Houston State University 51 points
4th Houston Baptist University 100 points
SHSU Men's Individual Finishes
1st Taylor Ray 14:55
3rd Joey D'Eramo 15:09
13th Julius Michael 15:46
14th Blake Woolums 15:47
20th Ray Venegas 16:49
21st Adam Santos 16:57
22nd Ryan Martin 17:30
