Islander Individuals Take Top-Two Spots In HBU Invite

Cross Country | October 14, 2017

SUGAR LAND, Texas - A late addition to this year's cross country schedule, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men finished third at Friday's Houston Baptist Invitational at Sugar Land Memorial Park.

Competing in their second afternoon meet of the season, the Green and Blue men took three of the top-four spots in this week's invite, as freshman Isaac Vargas recorded the first meet-win of his college career (26:16.7). Fellow Islander Marek Spriestersbach crossed the finish line alongside Vargas to follow up his teammate by just a tenth of a second. The two Islander runners cleared the rest of the field by over 30 seconds, with an average of 5:15/mile over five.

Jordan Wright would be the third Blue and Green runner to cross the finish line on Friday, with his time of 26:54.8 giving the senior a fourth place finish. Runners Will Maraggia and Jaran Cadena rounded out the Islander point scorers for the day, posting times of 29:57.0 and 32:37.0 respectively. Cadena made his collegiate cross country debut in Sugar Land, while track and field athlete Logan Jorgensen did the same. The Islanders would finish third of six on the afternoon, compiling a point total of 74 as a team.

Men's Top-Five
1. Isaac Vargas (26:16.7)
2. Marek Spriestersbach (26:16.8)
4. Jordan Wright (26:54.8)
30. Will Maraggia (29:57.0)
37. Jaran Cadena (32:37.0)

• This is the first year the Islanders have competed in the HBU Invitational and the second time they've competed against the Huskies this season
• Corpus Christi's team point total of 74 was good enough to beat Rice, Prairie View and Texas Southern
• UTSA was the only other team to place runners within the top-five of Friday's meet, taking both third and fifth place
• The Islanders top-three runners finished ahead of every Houston Baptist athlete, despite their point total trailing the Huskies in the standings
• The last time the Blue and Green competed in an evening meet, they ran against Rice at the Norry Hersey Rice Invitational earlier this season and took a fourth place finish
• This week's meet is the first for Corpus Christi this season where Marek Spriestersbach did not take the top-Islander performance

COMING UP NEXT
The men's finish was the second top-three performance the team has put together this year, after taking second in the Islander Splash earlier this year. The Blue and Green now look on to the Southland Conference Championship, this October 27th in Abilene, Texas. The Corpus Christi men will be in search of their first conference title in program history, while the women remain in search for championship number five.

STAY SOCIAL
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