Juana Garcia/The Cougar
Both the Houston men’s and women’s cross country teams had a strong showing at the 45th Annual Rice Invitational Friday, highlighted by junior Darby Gauntt and senior Maddy Castleberry posting top-three finishes in the women’s 4,000 meters.
Gauntt finished in second place in the 4,000 with a time of 13:55, followed immediately by Castleberry, who posted a time of 13:58.10. This was Castleberry’s second top-15 finish of the season.
In the men’s 6,000 meters, junior Brandon Seagreaves led the way finishing 13th overall with a time of 19:38.40.
Making a statement with his second top- 20 finish in as many weeks, Devin Vallejo-Bannister finished 16th (19:44.10).
Rounding out the rankings for the UH men, junior Alan Elbanna took 37th (20:33.30) and freshman Thomas Crider finished 52nd (21:06.70). Behind Crider was freshman Carlos Castillo in 58th (21.39.90) followed by sophomore Trey Grant in 69th (22:00.20) and senior Christian Gilmore in 89th (23:10.00) out of 98 total competitors.
In the women’s 6,000, UH had four top-25 finishes and eight top-40 finishes. Senior Regan Lobodzinski, who finished in 14th (14:32.40), and junior Claire Meyer, who placed 16th (14:34.50), led the way for the Cougars
With a firecracker of a performance in her first year with the cross-country team, freshman Daniela Castillo finished 21st with a time of 14:40, carving out a place for herself among UH’s fastest runners.
With several new faces making headlines, freshman Victoria Ruiz was not far behind, finishing 24th (14:47.70) as Houston’s last woman in the top-25.
Freshman Erin Rivera took 26th at 14:49.60 and junior Sondos Moursy followed her in 29th (14:56.20).
Rounding out the top-40 for UH were sophomore Zosia Bulhak at 38th (15:21) and freshman Eleni Kaiser with a time of (15:23.10) in 39th.
Next up for the Cougars is a trip to the Enos Deerbonne Sports Complex on Sept. 25 to compete in the Lake Charles Toyota Cowboy Stampede hosted by McNeese University.
