| Sept. 18, 2005
Contact: Kyle Stephens (210) 458-4907 UTSA women finish third, men fifth at Rice Invitational Women's Results | Men's Results
HOUSTON – Led by top-10 performances from senior Rita Lambert and junior Hope Jimenez, the UTSA women’s cross country team finished third at the Rice Invitational Saturday morning. The Roadrunner men took fifth behind top-20 finishes from sophomores Nick Perez and Michael Schwartz.
Lambert and Jimenez led a solid showing by the UTSA women, who scored 84 points to defeat Southland Conference rivals Stephen F. Austin (fourth, 94) and Sam Houston State (fifth, 141). Rice won the women’s title with 24 points, while Texas A&M-Corpus Christi was second (52). Texas-Pan American (155), Southwestern (200), Prairie View A&M (240), Texas Southern (246) and Southern (296) rounded out the women’s field.
Lambert covered the 4,000-meter course in 15:28.57 to finish ninth overall, just ahead of Jimenez, who crossed in 15:29.71 for 10th. Senior Karilyn Petty (17th, 15:49.88), junior Veronica Silva (23rd, 16:03.30) and junior Briana Mendez (26th, 16:19.78) rounded out the top five for the Roadrunners.
“The women ran great,” head cross country coach Rose Monday said. “The first race is always a tough one to see where everyone’s strengths and weaknesses are. The women were aggressive from the start and stayed in front.”
Perez and Schwartz guided the men to a fifth-place finish with 122 points. Rice won with 37 points, followed by Texas-Pan American (45), Sam Houston State (72) and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (79). Prairie View A&M (159), Southwestern (199) and Southern (206) concluded the men’s field.
Perez finished 18th overall in 18:35.95 for the 6k course to lead the Roadrunners, while Schwartz was 19th in 18:36.61. Junior Chris Layman (32nd, 19:13.16), junior Cornelio Castanon (35th, 19:22.80) and senior Justin Pitchford (40th, 19:44.52) finished off the men’s top five.
“With the temperatures in the 90's and the humidity so high, I knew the times would not be fast,” Monday said. “Both Nick and Schwartz, running completely separate race plans, finished where I thought their fitness level is in better conditions than what we ran in today.”
The Roadrunners return to action this Friday, Sept. 23, when they host the UTSA Invitational at 6 p.m. at the UTSA Track & Field Complex.
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