September 14, 2019

Dallas, TX – Men and Women Cross Country teams from Southwestern Assemblies of God (SAGU) headed to the campus of the University of Texas Dallas to compete at the UT Dallas Invite on Saturday. The UT-Dallas Invite had a combination of NAIA, NCAA DIII, and NCCAA institutions competing at the meet. SAGU Men’s Cross Country finished fourth in the meet in a time of 17:28. SAGU Women’s Cross Country finished sixth in an average time of 24:08.

Lion Racers

• The fourth place finish for the men hid the fact that SAGU runners finished 1, 3, and 4 in the meet.
• Zackery Hammond (SO/Corsicana, TX) finished first in a time of 15:58. Following Hammond in third was Cody Walker (JR/Princeton, TX) at 16:11. Finishing fourth in the meet in a time of 16:15 was Robert Herrera (SO/Lyford, TX) .
• Jose Alvarez (Lufkin, TX) and Winston Griffith (FR/Weatherford, TX) finished out the top 5 for the SAGU men.
• Skyla Mackey (FR/Anna, TX) was the top female finisher for SAGU in the women’s meet. Mackey finished in a time of 20:52, good for sixth best among females runners.
• Yanelly O’Campo-Turcios (SO/LaPorte, TX) , Caitlin Cruz (SO/LaPorte, TX) , Destiny Barclift (FR/Irving, TX) , and Alyssa Holder (SO/Maypearl, TX) rounded out the top 5 finishers for the SAGU women.
• Both teams ran without key members of their fall lineup while awaiting the resolution of eligibility issues.

Covarrubias Corner

• Overall : “Our teams competed well today. This has been one of the hardest training weeks of the season, but that was the plan. We are just using these early races to allow pressure to our Oxygen Delivery System and this will pay off later in the season.”
• On the Lady Lions : “The ladies are starting to come together. They competed great without our number three runner today. Skyla ran a really smart race. She had a good start and competed throughout the race. I am excited to see them as a complete unit in a few weeks.”
• On the Lions : “The men were excited for a 5K this week, and they controlled the race from the start. We had three finishers in the top four. Our #2 and #5 runners did not compete today. We are looking forward to running our full squad at Chile Pepper. This could be the most complete team we have ever had. Great things are coming, just have to be patient.”

The Next Step

The Lions and Lady Lions will take a break from competition over the next couple of weeks prior to returning to competition on Saturday, October 5, 2019. SAGU will travel to Fayetteville, AR on the 5 ^th to compete in the University of Arkansas, Chile Pepper Festival.