HOUSTON, Texas – The Concordia University Texas men's and women's cross country teams both earned fifth-place finishes against a competitive field at the 50th Rice Invitational on Friday evening. The Concordia women competed in the 4K, while the men raced a 5.2K at the Rice Intramural Fields.
The women finished fifth overall, placing ahead of NCAA Division I Prairie View A&M. Freshman Joselyn Pedraza continued her strong start to the season by leading the Tornado women across the finish line. Pedraza clocked a 17:33.3 to place 27th overall.
Fellow freshman Samantha Sanchez was the next CTX finisher at 18:11.3, followed by Elizabeth Bustillos at 18:36.1. Bertha Escobar-Luviano finished in 19:28.0, followed by Nevaeh Irvin at 19:40.8 and Maya Beckett at 20:25.9.
Junior Ashley Ramirez rounded out Concordia's top seven with one of the biggest performances of the evening, crossing in 20:53.8 and shaving nearly two minutes off her previous 4K personal record.
On the men's side, junior Tanner Moser paced the Tornados in the 5.2K with a time of 17:55.7 to finish 30th overall. Freshman Liam Snow followed at 18:14.5, while sophomore Isaias Mendoza crossed in 18:19.0.
Mendoza's performance marked a new personal record as he improved his previous best by 19 seconds.
Sophomore Gerardo Leal also registered a PR, cutting 19 seconds off his previous best with a time of 18:25.0. Freshmen Jesus Higas (18:43.4), Jacob Del Real (18:55.3) and John Robinson (19:02.1) rounded out Concordia's top seven. The Tornado men also placed fifth overall, giving CTX a pair of top-five team finishes on the evening.
Click here to view the full results of the meet.
Concordia Texas will next head to Kerrville, Texas to compete in the Mountaineer Invitational (hosted by Schreiner University) next Saturday, Sepetmber 19th. The women's 6k will begin at 6am with the men's 8k to follow at 8:45am.
To keep up to date with everything surrounding the CTX cross country program, follow us on social media @ctxathletics and visit athletics.concordia.edu.
