Winfield, Kansas- October 25, 2015- The Southwestern Assemblies of God University (SAGU) men’s and women’s cross country teams competed at the NAIA Mid-States Classic hosted by Southwestern College. The women’s team finished the highest it ever has in 12 th place out of 22 teams and the men finished in 10 th place out of 16 teams.
“When you train hard every day, you hope and pray that it will show up in a race,” exclaims head coach Jason Covarrubias , “It showed up today in a big, big way!”
The field had three of the NAIA’s top 10 nationally ranked men’s teams and two of the top women’s teams. Three of the top teams are in the Sooner Athletic Conference (SAC).
The men’s team also enjoyed the highest finish ever at Winfield. Jerry Nava led the men’s team and set a school record in the 8k, finishing in 26:18. Nava crossed the finish line in 17 th place out of 157 runners. Walker Loyd set a personal record of 26:28, finishing in 20 th place. Gabriel Price (28:01) and Adrian Cedillo (28:02) crossed in 77 th 
and 78 th place.
SAGU women were led once again by junior captain Destiny Garza . Garza set another personal record with a time of 18:05, which was good enough for fifth place out of 159 runners. Four other Lady Lions set personal records; most notably were Kelly Cook (20:25) who finished in 58 th place and Genny McCullough (20:27) coming in 60th.
“10 runners all setting personal best, you can’t script that but you can train for that. I’m proud of how these kids competed because setting personal records mean that they have to trust their training by taking that leap of faith and going with the competition. That is tough to do. They were fearless,” says Covarrubias.
Next up for the cross country teams is the Sooner Athletic Conference meet on Sunday, November 8, 2015. The teams will be competing at the Cooper Technology Center in Shawnee, Oklahoma. In order to qualify for the NAIA national tournament, runners must finish in the top 15 of the SAC race.
Southwestern Assemblies of God University is a private, Christian university located 30 minutes south of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex in Waxahachie, Texas. The university was established in 1927, and now offers more than 70 associate, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees on campus or online. More information is available at www.sagu.edu or by calling 1-888-YES-SAGU.
Contact: Natalie Tristan, SAGU SID, [email protected]
