The men’s and women’s cross country teams put forth a stellar effort last weekend as both finished fifth out of more
Both teams saw their No. 2 and No. 3 runners compete well enough to outrun the team’s usual top performers. | Courtesy of UH Athletics
than 20 schools at the Disney Cross Country Classic in Orlando, Fla. It was their largest competition so far this season.
For the first time, sophomore David Smith and junior Megan Munoz led the team instead of the usual leaders.
In the 8K race, junior Nate Pineda finished just one second behind Smith, who placed 25th, in 26 minutes flat to take 27th place.
“David is really talented,” head coach Ryan Turner said. “It’s great to see him break 26 minutes.
“I’m really proud of him for accomplishing one of his goals. Now we can put that behind us, and we can try to run even faster.”
Junior Anthony Jordan came in close behind his teammates at 26:02 to take 28th place. Jordan improved his time by 1:29 from the last meet at LSU.
For the women, Munoz placed 18th with a time of 18:28, followed by sophomore Kathryn Ducommun who placed 31st at 18:52 on the 5K course.
“Megan did an exceptional job. Her performance was probably the highlight of the entire trip,” Turner said. “She did really well. It was a top-20 finish against a pretty large field. It’s great to see someone who works so hard finally put it all together. I’m really proud of her.”
Junior Brandi Witte and senior Erica Hannemann finished within three seconds of each other to place 34th and 35th, respectively.
“Overall, I thought we really did well,” Turner said. “We were just 21 points away from third place. If we run well, our goal should be a top-three performance, at worst a top five.”
The Cougars will head to the Arkansas Chili Pepper Cross Country Festival in Fayetteville, Ark. on Saturday for their last meet before the Conference USA Cross Country Championships.
