FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. — Tarleton State Cross Country posted a pair of top 15 team finishes on Saturday morning at the Chile Pepper Festival at the Agri Park Cross Country Course.
For the third-straight race, Tyer Hedgepeth paced the men leading the pack with a 49th place finish in 25:04.4.
Kaitlyn Gale topped the Texans for the second consecutive meet. She placed 33rd in 17:30.0, over 30 slots better than her finish at this meet last season.
"It was a good to see a lot of improvement in times from last season," said distance coach Zent. "As a team, we will work hard over the next two weeks when we are back at the course at Texas A&M on Oct. 18."
The Texan men placed 11th overall in the 31-team field in the 8K, their first 8K of the fall. The women placed their highest finish in the Harter's Habanero 5K finishing in 14th. The women were over 50 points ahead of WAC foe Abilene Christian.
Men's
Hedgepeth paced the men alongside
Kellen Frickel. Frickel finished just a second behind in 25:05.2 to claim 52nd place.
Jace Poole was the third Texan to cross the line. He was just 13 seconds behind the duo finishing in 67th in 25:17.5.
Mez Barth was the fourth Texan across shortly trailing Poole. Barth finished in 71st in 25:21.3. The final Texan to score was
Diego Flores, following tightly behind the freshman. Flores clocked in in 25:24.6 to earn 75th place.
Michael Lopez rounded out the Texan squad crossing in 25:54.7.
Arkansas' Timothy Chesondin won the individual title by nearly 20 seconds crossing the line in 22:53.6. He was followed by teammate Brain Masai in 23:10.2. The host, Arkansas, claimed the team title with 40 points. Texas followed closely behind in second with 56 points, followed by Northwest Missouri who claimed third overall.
Women's
Gale paced the women for the second consecutive outing.
Madelyn Hunter was the next to cross the line finishing in 61st in 17:57.2. Freshman
Victoria Guerrero was the third to cross finishing in 18:18.9 in 90th place.
Allie Brown was the fourth Texan to cross in 164th in 19:16.8. The final scoring Texan Carly Thornton finished in 19:56.7.
Kaylee Gray rounded out the squad in 22:02.7.
Arkansas senior Sydney Thorvaldson took the individual title by six seconds in 16:03.0. She just out-raced UT Arlington's freshman Dorcas Jepkosgei who crossed in second in 16:09.5. Texas won the women's team race scoring 54 points, nearly half as many as Arkansas. Arkansas finished second rounded out by Stephen F. Austin in third.
The Texans will be back in action in two weeks in College Station for the Arturo Barrios Invitational on Oct. 17 at the Watts Cross Country Course.
