SAN ANTONIO – The UTSA men’s and women’s cross country season kicked off on Friday morning at Windcrest Golf Club in the UIW Invitational. Both Roadrunners squads finished in seventh place, highlighted by an eighth-place finish for Eagle Pass, Texas junior OJ Ruiz in the men’s 4-mile run and a 29th-place finish by San Antonio sophomore Jadelyn Malesich in the women’s 5k.
Seven men’s Roadrunners, including five 2024 cross country newcomers, took on the initial competition at the 4-mile distance, paced by Ruiz’s 19:52.2 in eighth place. Next among scorers for UTSA, AJ Tyler crossed at 21:00.1 in 38th, ahead of Diego Ramirez at 57th in 21:37.1. Rounding out UTSA’s performers, Cortlin Salge (22:23.0) was 82nd, Carter Williams (22:23.2) was 83rd, Dominick Landin (22:31.7) was 85th and Gabe Tubbs (23:10.7) was 96th. The Roadrunner men averaged 21:27 and recorded 193 points for seventh.
Sporting a group of 12 finishers, including six newcomers in the women’s 5k, local product Malesich came down the chute in 29th with a time of 19:26.1 to lead UTSA’s scorers. Chante Dixon (19:47.3) and Lisa Pelletier (19:48.1) were back-to-back at 36th and 37th, respectively. Savannah Lopez followed in 50th with a new personal-best 20:20.1, ahead of Jadyn Gonzales (20:27.3) and Emma Wallace (20:28.7) at 52nd and 53rd. Rounding out the Roadrunners in the women’s race, Itzel Rojo (20:46.2) was 56th, Brooke Veltman (20:58.4) was 58th, Sidney Bravo (21:00.9) was 60th, Aubry Ybarra (21:51.0) was 68th, Megan Groeschel (21:52.0) was 69th and Estefania Colchado (24:23.7) was 79th. The UTSA women averaged 19:57 as a scoring group and were seventh with 187 points.
Next on the UTSA schedule, the Roadrunners will head to the Cougar Challenge in San Marcos, California on Saturday, Sept. 28.
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