LAKE CHARLES, La. -- Despite battling a slew of difficult running conditions and a near-flooded course, the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi Cross Country team compiled a strong performance at the Southland Conference Championships on Friday morning in Lake Charles, La., as the women's squad locked down the program's fifth all-time league title and the men improved three spots from last year's finish to fifth place. Senior
Allyson Girard set the pace for the entire women's field, capturing her first Southland Conference Individual Championship behind a massive 35.4 second gap.
Meanwhile, both sophomore
Valentina Campos and junior
Morgan McCutchen composed their best performances of the year, sliding in at eighth and 15th, respectively. Girard's fellow seniors --
Cynthia Quiroga and
Samantha Miller -- grabbed 18th and 28th to wrap up the scoring runners for the Islanders. Despite not factoring into the final scoring decision, a pair of freshman --
Alana Blankenship and
Marissa Martinez -- gained quality experience on the tough course, placing 37th and 51st on the final standings.
The final team leaderboard saw the women outpace perennial contender Lamar by a single point and Stephen F. Austin by just four, an exceptionally tight margin between the top three. Host McNeese State slid in at fourth and Incarnate Word rounded out the top five, the latter trailing Texas A&M-Corpus Christi by 99 points.
On the men's side, senior
Steven Galli put together his best placement of the season, leading the Islanders behind a 15th-place finish. Despite not being 100 percent healthy, junior college transfer
Oscar Leyva crossed the finish line 17th while fellow teammate
Isaac Vargas arrived just .3 seconds later in 18th. Senior
Marek Spriestersbach and freshman
Juan Salinas III rounded out the scoring runners at 27th and 33rd, respectively, while freshmen
Matthew Lara and
Andrew Gandy closed out the Islanders' competition at 54th and 70th.Â
Central Arkansas compiled a brilliant performance in earning first place on the final team leaderboard, surging past Lamar, Incarnate Word and Stephen F. Austin. Texas A&M-Corpus Christi notched a fifth-place finish behind the Lumberjacks, missing out on fourth by just eight points.
A number of Islanders received awards from the Southland Conference post-meet, including Girard (Women's Cross Country Runner of the Year) and Campos (Second-Team All-Conference honors). Head coach
Brent Ericksen, who has orchestrated the Islanders' massive improvement over the past two years, was also bitten by the hardware bug as the league named him the Women's Cross Country Coach of Year.
With the Southland Conference Championships wrapped up, qualifying Islanders will receive an invitation to the South Central Regional meet, hosted by Texas A&M University on Friday, Nov. 9 in College Station, Texas. The Cross Country season concludes Saturday, Nov. 17 with the NCAA Championships at the Zimmer Championship Course in Madison, Wisc.
For more information on Islanders Cross Country, follow the team on Twitter (
@IslandersTFXC), Instagram (
@IslandersTFXC) and like their Facebook page (
Islanders Track & Field/Cross Country).
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