BEAUMONT, Texas – Lamar University's cross country teams are making their third trip to College Station this season as they will compete at the NCAA South Central Regional, hosted by Texas A&M, at the Watts Cross Country Course.
The Cardinals' last regular season meet was at the Southland Conference Championships in Lake Charles La. Both teams scored 146 points, with the men placing fifth in the 8,000-meter race and the women finishing sixth in the 6K.
The women had four top-50 runners with
Ashton Rainey being the lone Cardinal on either side to earn first-team All-SLC honors after running fifth in a time of 20:24.88. The men's team had six top-50 finishers, led by
Alexis Rodriguez, who crossed the line in 21st at 24:49.13.
Lamar is sending six women to participate in the regional, including Rainey, who placed 33rd in 21:24.88 at last year's meet to help the Cardinals finish 22nd with 600 points. She will be joined by sophomore
Lauren Polk and freshmen
Madison Akers,
Dena Marie Barby,
Lily Davis and
Sara Verschure.
The men's team plans to run 10 members, including five returners from last year's squad:
Kenny Bibb (118th, 33:25.2),
Geovany Cisneros (68th, 32:05.6),
Adrian Hahn Vadstein (89th, 32:27.2), Rodriguez (143rd, 34:20.9) and
Ryan Servantes (129th, 33:42.7). That group helped Lamar place 12th with 345 points a year ago.
The women's 6K race has a field of 30 teams with 215 athletes running, while the men's 10K comprises 28 teams and 205 athletes. The top two teams in each race will earn automatic bids to the NCAA Championships, while the next four individual finishers not on qualifying teams will also advance. Additional at-large team selections will be announced following the completion of the regional meets.
The meet will open at 9 a.m. with the women's 6K followed by the men's 10K at 10 a.m.
