by: JOSHUA RAMIREZ/Sports Editor
After a strong start to their season the South Plains College men’s and women’s cross country teams kept the momentum going at the Abilene Christian Invitational.
The teams returned to Abilene on Sept. 18 for the second meet in a row to compete at the ACU Invitational.
The Texans continued their dominance in the Junior College Division, posting their second first-place finish this year with a total score of 18 team points in the event.
Angelo State finished second at the ACU invitational, finishing 27 points behind SPC with a final team score of 45.
The Texans were led by sophomore Hassan Abdi for the second consecutive meet. Abdi covered the 6,000-meter course in a time of 18:39.82, placing first overall in the individual standings for the second time this season. He even out-ran Texas Tech’s Evans Tuitoek, who placed first overall in the Division I standings with a time of 18:46.45.
The second Texan to finish the course for SPC was Nicholas Rotich, who posted a time of 19:22.41 and placed second overall at the meet.
The next Texans to finish the race were fellow freshmen Jose Silva and Omero Rodriguez. The runners finished fourth and fifth, respectively, with times of 19:34.62 and 19:51.01.
Finishing just a few seconds behind his teammates was freshman Deric Martinez, who crossed the line with a time of 19:55.45.
After a tough start to their 2015 season, the Lady Texans came back strong in their second meet of the year with a second overall finish in the team standings at the ACU Invitational.
The Lady Texans battled it out with Angelo State for most of the race. ASU finished with a team score of 25 points, while SPC was just six points behind with a team score of 31 points.
Sophomore Kassidi Jones led the SPC women for the second consecutive week, wrapping up the 5,000-meter course in just 20:48.83 and placing fourth overall in the contest.
The next runner to cross the finish line for the Lady Texans was freshman Heather Maldonado, who finished the race with a time of 21:05.21 and placed fifth overall in the individual standings.
Next to score for the SPC women were freshmen Sasha-Gay Whyte and Megan Kinsey, posting times of 21:15.79 and 22:06.71, respectively, which put them at sixth and seventh overall.
The final runner to score for the Lady Texans was freshman Mya Perez, who posted a time of 23:22.26 and finished ninth overall at the meet.
After two strong performances in their first meets of the year, the men’s and women’s cross country teams were back in action on Sept. 26, traveling to Stillwater, Okla., for the Cowboy Jambree. Results were not available at press time.
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