Islander Splash
Kats post pair of top team finishes at A&M-CC
9/26/2015 12:23:00 AM | Cross Country, Cross Country
The Sam Houston State cross country men and women captured first place Friday at Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Islander Splash, highlighted from key performances across the board including top finishes from Colton Stoker (24:10) in the 7.2K and Nicole Aponte (18:47) in the 5K.
The Bearkat men secured 36 points, besting the Islanders and UTSA, who each finished with 42, followed by Texas Southern (129), UT Rio Grande Valley (133) and Prairie View A&M (139). Meanwhile, the women accumulated 37 points, followed by the Islanders (43), UTSA (43), UT Rio Grande Valley (142), Prairie View A&M (143) and Texas Southern (151).
In the win, the women received a major boost from four and five runners, Hannah Tarrant (19:32) and Briana McCall (20:01), who took 10th and 17th respectively. Olivia Olguin secured second behind a 18:55 mark.
“Nicole Aponte and Olivia Olguin both ran great races, but the highlight performance was from freshman Hannah Tarrant and sophomore Briana McCall who both stepped up as our 4-5 runners to secure the team victory,” head coach Jesse Parker said. “I was really proud of how both competed.”
On the men's side, Stoker postedi his first top finish, helping the Kats to their second straight top finish, adding his second top 10 finish of the season after taking sixth at the Southland Conference Preview two weeks ago.
“Colton Stoker ran a great individual race,” Parker said. “A large group of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi runners took off pretty quick at the beginning but he stayed patient and caught them all with about a mile left and proceeded to run away with the win.”
Behind Stoker, Evan Arambula placed third (24:18), Alex Hernandez finished seventh (24:46) and Grant Buley captured 10th (24:56). J.T. Bounds also continued his strong fall behind a 15th place finish at 25:39.
“We ran without our No. 1 and No. 4 runners as they are preparing for the Texas Invitational next week, so I didn't think we had a real chance to win the team race as both Corpus and UTSA have good groups,” Parker said. “The guys competed very well and we had good performances by Evan Arambula, Alex Hernandez and J.T. Bounds to help secure the team victory.”
Sam Houston returns next Friday at the Longhorn Classic from the University of Texas. For the latest on Bearkat cross country, follow @SHSUTF_XC on Twitter and visit GoBearkats.com.
“I'm proud of how they all competed, but the real test will be next week at the University of Texas,” Parker said. “We now have to put this behind us and focus on getting ready for these major meets to come.”
Players Mentioned
