The UH women’s cross country team gathers together during the AAC Championships Saturday. | Courtesy of the American Athletic Conference
Just two weeks after its season opening meet, the Houston cross country team capped off its season with one last performance at the 2021 American Athletic Conference Championships on Saturday.
The UH cross country men’s team finished the day with a seventh-place finish in the team standings with 202 points, while the women’s team grabbed an eighth-place finish with 220 points.
Leading the way for the men’s side was junior Devin Vallejo-Bannister, who picked up a 29th-place finish in the men’s 8K run with a time of 25:31.55.
Senior Devin Fahey was the second Cougar to cross the finish line with a 44th-place finish at 26:22.51, with junior Gabriel Armijo and freshman Juan Olmos trailing not far behind, taking 46th (26:29.35) and 50th (26:46.46) place respectively.
Sophomore Tyler Keranen finished in 61th place with a time of 28:23.27, while senior Isaac Pearce and freshman Trey Grant took 65th (29:42.30) and 66th (29:51.67) place to round out the performances on the men’s team.
On the women’s side for UH cross country, junior Madeline Castleberry grabbed the highest finish for either side at the event, placing 26th in the women’s 6K run, clocking in a time of 22:28.12.
Freshman Zosia Bulhak soon followed with a 42nd-place finish at 22:57.76, the highest finish for any freshman at the event this year for the Cougars.
Junior Regan Lobodzinski was the third to finish for the women’s team, grabbing 52nd place with a time of 23:20.79.
UH cross country sophomore Claire Meyer finished 57th place with a time of 23:36.05, with freshmen Macie Ellis and Hannah Gault clocking in just seconds after for 58th (23:39.58) and 60th (23:45.51) place in their first conference championships.
Sophomore Sondos Moursy came last for the Cougars with a 71st-place finish with a time of 24:25.25.
Going into the conference championships with only one meet of experience and preparation was an unforeseen reality for UH back when the season schedule was released in early January.
However, the Cougars still managed to perform well, with returning runners improving times from previous seasons and new runners picking up good results to cap off their first collegiate season.
