FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. – Rick Platas ran the fifth-best 8K time in school history, recording a top-50 placement out of 256 runners, as the Concordia Texas Cross Country team competed in the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival on Friday.

The Tornados traveled outside of Texas for the first time this season for their third nighttime meet of the year, the Chile Pepper Cross Country Festival, one of the premier running events in the country that hosts over 80 colleges in their races.

On the men's side, Platas and CTX finished 20th out of the 31 teams running in the 8K CC Open, totaling 501 points.

Platas, who set the program's 8K school record last week at the Concordia Classic, continued his impressive junior season, finishing 46th with a time of 27:28.2. The time is the fifth-best 8K time in school history and now gives the Premont, Texas native three of the school's top-five marks in 8K races.

Kamron Loaera followed Platas with a personal-best time of 27:38.8, finishing 56th in the race. Sam Stewart and Nathan Luevano ran times of 30:25.7 and 30:54.8 to finish 153rd and 166th overall, respectively.

Thomas Hughes cross the finish line in a time of 31:13.6, placing 175th, while Jacob Ismir clocked in a time of 31:27.9 to finish 184th. Jeremy Longoria rounded out the Tornados' team score on the day, finishing 205th with a time of 32:25.5.

On the women's side, Bianca Bagwell continued to shine for the Tornados, clocking in the best time for the program for the fourth meet in a row as the team finished 27th in the standings.

The Winnie, Texas native crossed the 5K race finish line in a time of 21:28.0 for a placement of 97th overall.

Meghan Kevil followed, running a time of 26:52.6 and placing 218th. Kristine Regalado and Sophia West finished back-to-back with times of 27:51.3 and 27:57.8, respectively.

Kendall Simpson wrapped up the Tornados' day, clocking in a time of 28:42.0 to finish 228th overall.

Up next, CTX will compete in the Bill Libby Cross Country Invitational on Oct. 16th in Abilene, Texas. It is the final meet for program before running in the conference championships on Oct. 30th.