ARLINGTON, Texas — Tarleton State sophomore Kaitlyn Gale posted a top 20 finish to earn Second Team All-WAC and led the Texans at the 2025 WAC Cross Country Championships at the Harold Patterson Sports Complex on Friday morning.
 
Gale became the first Texan woman to earn a top 20 performance at the WAC Cross Country Championships in program history. Her time of 21:29.60 is also the fastest by a Texan at the meet since joining Division I in 2020.
 
The men finished in sixth place as a team with the women placing seventh, higher than a season ago in Utah Valley when they were ninth.
 
"It was good to see our Texans get out there and compete today," said Tarleton State head coach Bobby Carter. "I saw some individual improvement, which is always good to see. We know there's much more work to be done, and we believe we are headed in the right direction. This season is another step towards establishing a program that can consistently compete at the highest level. As always, we will continue to raise the standard and build a culture that will put us where we want to be."
 
Men
The men's race kicked off first with a 9 a.m. gun time. Kellen Frickel started off in the lead pack for the first lap of the race. Frickel paced the Texans for the first time this season finishing in 28^th overall in 24:57.6. Trailing closely behind was Jace Poole crossing in 25:10.2 to earn 30^th place. Mez Barth was right behind Poole turning in a 31^st place overall finish in 25:12.3. The fourth Texan to finish was Tyler Hedgepeth finishing in 25:36.60. The final scoring Texan was Jerryth Buckingham used a quick close to pass a few and finish in 46^th in 25:51.2.
 
Diego Flores was right behind Buckingham crossing in 25:54.40 and earn 48^th place. The next Texan to finish was Michael Lopez coming across in 25:59.3 to place 50^th overall. AJ Alfaro ran in his final WAC Championship meet finishing in 58^th in 26:51.60.
 
"In a smaller conference meet with quality teams top to bottom, there is not much of margin for error," said distance coach Christopher Zent. "This is a resilient group of guys and I know we will bounce back in two weeks at the regional meet."
 
CBU took home their sixth-straight team title on the men's side scoring 22 points. The Lancers were led by Valentin Soca who earned the individual title in 23:51.00. Utah Valley finished in second place with 41 points, followed by Southern Utah with 92 total points. The Lancers placed seven runners in the top nine finishers
 
Women
Kaitlyn Gale led the Texan pack once again, earning her first WAC top 20 finish, coming in 19^th. Gale became the highest finishing Texan in program history at the WAC XC Championships, surpassing her 23^rd place finish last season. She also ran the fastest time in school history at the meet once again besting her time of last year by 20 seconds.
 
Victoria Guerrero was the second Texan to finish crossing in 22:04.7 in 28^th place. The women were more separated apart than the men with Carley Thornton the next to finish in 44^th in 23:00.5. Madelyn Hunter finished in 49^th in 23:51.3. Kaylee Gray was the fifth Texan to cross placing in 55^th. Emily Teal followed shortly behind in 56^th.
 
"We had several positives from our women's team today,"  said coach Zent. "I am proud of Kaitlyn Gale becoming the top Tean finisher at this meet in program history. We had a lot of our team run season bests and that is what you work for all year. We had faced a few obstacles this season and today we were able to push through and I really appreciated that effort from the ladies."
 
CBU also picked up the women's team title, their fifth in program history. The Lancers tallied 29 points. Utah Valley finished in second with 58 points. UT Arlington rounded out the podium with a third place finish scoring 96 points. Utah Valley's Morgan Nokes won the individual title crossing in 19:27.5. Dorcas Jepkosgei of UTA finished in second in 20:03.9. CBU has eight of the next nine finishers spanning third to eleventh.
 
The Texans will have two weeks of before the NCAA South Central Regional Championships on Nov. 14 at Agri Park Cross Country Course in Fayetteville, Ark. It will mark the Texans' second NCAA D1 South Central Regional appearance in program history.