STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State's men's cross country team has surged in the most recent USTFCCCA polls to rank ninth in the South Central Region.
 
"The men continue to show up every week achieving their goals," said head coach Bobby Carter. "The great thing about this group of young men, is that they aren't satisfied! They want to do better and they want to win. I am excited to see what the postseason holds for this team."
 
Tarleton has been in the rankings in three of the four weeks of the regular season. The ninth ranking ties their highest after entering the polls at nine in week one.
 
Last weekend, the Texans made a statement at the Arturo Barrios Invitational, passing five South Central region ranked squads in last week's poll. Tarleton finished ahead of South Central Region ranked Houston (#7), Rice (#9), Lamar (#10), UT Arlington (#12), Sam Houston (#14).
 
The Purple and White were led by senior Angel Contreras who posted a career-best 23:44.5 in the 8K race to earn 49^th place. He paced the Texans for the first time this season. Angel Gomez followed tightly behind also posting a career-best crossing in 54^th in 23:46.2.
 
"The men consistently demonstrate their commitment to running hard for each other daily, and are looking forward to improve on these rankings in November when they compete in their first regional meet as a D1 program," said distance coach Chris Zent.
 
The Texans are one of four teams to be ranked in the top 15 in region polls this week. California Baptist holds the highest ranking, rated third in the West Region. In the Mountain Region, Utah Valley and Southern Utah are ranked 11^th and 13^th, respectively. These three programs and the rest of the league will compete in the WAC Cross Country Championships on Friday, Nov. 1 at Lakeside Park hosted by Utah Valley.
 
Tarleton will have nine more days to prepare for the 2024 WAC Cross Country Championships, set for Nov. 1, in Orem, Utah.