SOUTH BEND, Ind. – Freshman
Elizabeth Khatevi ran the first race of her collegiate career and came out victorious in her debut, winning the women's 5k to highlight a solid performance from the Texas A&M-Corpus Christi men's and women's cross country teams at the Joe Piane Notre Dame Invite Friday.
Khatevi ran a 16:48.1 time in the women's 5k, finishing 10 seconds faster than the rest of the pack to secure the first-place victory out of 182. She is the second freshman in the last two seasons who won their collegiate debut race after now-sophomore
Mathayo Kiptoo Bundotich won his opening race in 2023.
However, not far behind her was fellow freshman
Alicia Finnis who had been the Islanders' top finisher in the previous two meets. She crossed fifth overall to aid in the women's sixth-place finish out of 23 teams at 219 points. It was a young showing from the women, as freshmen
Embla Hreimsdottir and
Micah Mizell were the teams' third and fourth finishers, respectively, while junior
Deandra Ibarra rounded out the five spot with her personal best 18:48.0 time in the 5k.
"I'm very pleased with today!" said head coach
Bryan Jackson. "The women raced with a mission and despite being young, took a shot at winning that race. We came up short but I'm excited about the lessons learned and the growth that's going to come from it."
For the men, freshman
Dominic Kiptum finished second overall for the second meet in a row at a 23:39.3 time in the men's 8k. He has been the Islanders' top finisher in both now.
Freshman
Diego Canto, senior
Emil Hajjaj, junior
Ewan Wheelwright, and senior
Enock Kimutai were the next four finishers for A&M-Corpus Christi. The squad ended sixth out of 18 with 243 points, improving eight places through the last two kilometers.
"The men closed out the race very well, going from 14
th to 6
th as a team over the last 2km! There are definitely some areas of racing we need to work on, but with a month to go, we are in a good place," said Jackson.
It was the longest race for both the men and women so far this season.
Next up, the Islanders will round out the regular season at Texas A&M's Arturo Barrios Invite on Oct. 18 before setting sights on the SLC Championship on Nov. 1.
#ShakasUp
