SAGU's men’s and women’s cross country teams competed in a stacked field at the NAIA Mid-States Classic meet hosted by Southwestern College. The Men placed 8th and the Women placed 16th overall as a team.
In the Men’s 8K, the Lions had a great overall race. The men were led by junior Adrian Cedillo with a time of 26:50. Cedillo was followed by red-shirt freshman Robert Herrera (27:11), sophomore Cody Walker (27:24), senior Jerry Nava (27:33), and senior Jose Campos (28:20).
“There is one meet a year that I love to go to and that is the NAIA Mid-States Classic in Winfield, KS,” says Head Coach Jason Covarrubias. “The meet is filled heavily with national competition and is a great tune up for conference in two weeks. As for our men, they really showed heart today. Campos, who went down earlier this season, has fought his way back into shape and ran an impressive race. We are still working though some kinks that comes along with good training and that hurt us a bit today. They had a shot to jump back into the rankings but those two factors limited us. All in all, I am impressed with them.”
In the Women’s 5k, the Lady Lions performed their best overall average this season. The women were led by senior Fille (Fifi) Kinyamahanga who finished with a time of 22:06. Kinyamahanga was followed by sophomore Caitlin Cruz (23:26), freshman Destiny Barclift (23:56), freshman Abby Lopez (24:30), and junior Kaitlyn Canales (25:13).
Head Coach Jason Covarrubias stated, “The women knocked nearly four minutes off the deficit they had from their last race. I am really proud of them!”