FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. -
Ashton Rainey and
Andres Padron each finished in the top 50 as Lamar University competed at the NCAA Cross Country South Central Regional Championships Friday morning at Agri Park on the University of Arkansas campus. The Lamar women finished 22nd out of 31 schools with 600 points, while the men placed 12th out of 32 schools with 345 points.
Texas A&M earned the women's 6,000-meter team championship with 71 points. The individual winner was Texas A&M-Corpus Christi's Elizabeth Khatevi (19:33.6), who defeated Arkansas' Sydney Thorvaldson (19:42.4) by nine seconds. On the men's circuit, Tulane claimed the 10K race with 44 points, edging out the Razorbacks, which had the men's champion in Timothy Chesondin (28:44.4).
Five Cardinal women opened the 6K meet at 9:00 a.m.
Ashton Rainey led the way by crossing the line in 33rd place at 21:24.8. She started the race sitting 24th after the 1.6K split (5:22.3) before falling back nine spots over the final 4.4K.
Hannah Roberts (23:36.9) was two minutes behind Rainey in 127th, while
Anna Eischen posted her time of 24:07.4 to finish 138th.
Eleana Campos (25:04.1) and
Claire Bibb (27:34.0) finished their meets in 148th and 154th, respectively.
The women finished the 2025 season with two top-10 finishes, including third at the Northwestern State Opening Meet and eighth in the SLC Championships. Rainey earned first-team all-conference recognition.
The men's 10k meet followed at 10:00 a.m. After 1.6K, Padron was in 107th, but would pick up 42 spots at the midway point. Over the second half of the race, Padron added 18 spots to finish 47th with a time of 31:40.9.
Jonathan Rivera clocked in 13 seconds behind Padron to take 57th.
Geovany Cisneros (32:05.6) ran 68th while
Adrian Hahn Vadstein (32:37.2) finished 89th.
Kenny Bibb (33:25.2),
Ryan Servantes (33:42.7), and
Alexis Rodriguez (34:20.9) finished out the meet in 118th, 129th, and 143rd, respectively.
The 2025 season saw the men earn two top 10s, including second at the NSU meet and fourth in the conference title meet. Padron was recognized by the conference as a second team member.
