Oct. 13, 2007

The SU men's and women's cross country teams both finished first among NCAA Division III competition at the Texas Lutheran Invitational on Saturday (Oct. 13) in Seguin, TX.

In the men's race, junior Ben Sloan (Spartanburg, SC/Dorman HS) ran a season-best 28:37 for 17th place. Sophomore Josh Gideon (Mesquite, TX/McMurry University) was next for SU, taking 23rd with at time of 29:00. Following Gideon was Addison English (Keller, TX/Keller HS) in 25th, crossing the finish line in 29:20.

In 29th place with a time of 29:35.3 was first-year Allen Smith. David Pruit (Grapevine, TX/Cistercian Preparatory) took 33rd with a time of 29:44.9 while Sebastian Winkler (Corpus Christi, TX/Incarnate Word Academy) had a time of 29:57 for 37th place.

Sophomore Matthew Broussard (College Station, TX/A&M Consolidated HS) finished 51st and Eric Sterner (San Antonio, TX/Central Catholic Marianist HS) placed 55th. Brian Schaefer (Spring, TX/Klein HS), a sophomore, ran a season-best 34:04 and Ted Wilson (Clyde, TX/Clyde HS) recorded a personal-best 34:22.

The Pirate men finished fourth overall and first among Division III teams.

"Overall times for the entire field were slower than years past," said Coach Smith. "This was likely due rising temperatures associated with the late morning start time. Our men continue to run in a fairly tight pack with our top-five finishing within 1:07 of each other. We also had one personal best and two season best times run by our men's team members."

In the women's race, the Pirates were short-handed and still finished sixth overall and first out of the Division III competition.

Tami Warner (Dale, TX/Lockhart HS), a sophomore, ran a season-best 25:20 and finished 20th. Junior Kristin Lahaie (Cypress, TX/St. Pius X HS) also had a season-best time of 26:14, good for 27th place.

Ursula James (Sugarland, TX/Elkins HS) took 39th, crossing the line in 26:59 for a personal best. Elly Martinez (Lockhart, TX/Lockhart HS) finished 47th with a time of 27:56 while Alana Buenrostro (Brownsville, TX/St. Joseph's Academy) ran a 29:15 for 59th place.

Coach Smith said "We were without three of our top five runners who should be back soon. We look forward to competing on our home course in 2 weeks at the SCAC Cross Country Championships."

The next meet for Southwestern will be Saturday (Oct. 27) when the Pirates host the Southern Collegiate Athletic Conference Cross Country Championships in Georgetown, TX.