Both LU cross country teams finish second at A&M

COLLEGE STATION – Both the men’s and women’s teams took second place finishes, both behind Texas A&M, Friday evening when they ran in the Aggie Opener at the Dale Watts Cross Country Course in the season opening meet.

The LU women finished with 47 points and the men 55 behind A&M’s 23 and 15, respectively. UTSA took third on both sides and the Texas Southern men finished in last.

“It was evident a lot of people did some work over the summer, and I’m happy with where we are,” said cross country coach Tony Houchin.

Evelyn Chavez and Jannika John finished second on third on the women’s side. Chavez crossed line in 14:25.1, which placed her better than her fourth place position a season ago. John’s third place of 14:30.0 was better than her top 4,000-meter time last season.

Georgia Tuckfield rounded out the top 20 for the Cardinals with a 15:29.6 mark.

Federico Gasbarri was the top Cardinal to finish, in seventh, on an 18:55.0 time – which was far better than his 19:19.4 6K time last year. Sean Chalmers and newcomer Keith Fallon finished right next to each other at 12^th and 13^th. Chalmers finished with a 19:10.2 time and Fallon at 19:15.3.

“We wanted to get the men into a pack to run, to see how well they run like that,” said Houchin. “We were happy with what we saw today, but we still have some work to do.”

Stuart Ferguson finished 15th on a 19:20.2 mark, right before Tobias Riker took 16th with a 19:20.3 time. Nathan Gillis was 19th with a 19:27.1 finish.

Next up for the Cardinals is the Justin Cooper Rice Invitational on Sept. 9 before they return back to Texas A&M to compete in the Texas A&M Invitational on Sept. 24.