Juana Garcia/The Cougar
Powered by four top-10 finishers, Houston’s women’s cross-country team took home the Cowboy Stampede title, scoring 40 points in the 5K on Saturday at the Derbonne Multisports Complex in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
Junior Darby Gauntt set the pace for Houston as she finished third out of the 61 runners with a time of 17:28.2.
Three more women finished inside the top ten for UH. Senior Madeline Castleberry was next, finishing with a time of 17:43.2 that earned her a sixth-place finish. Rounding out the top ten, freshman Erin Rivera and junior Claire Meyer finished ninth and tenth respectively with times of 18:14.3 and 18:15.6.
Continuing in setting the pace for UH, the trio of freshman Victoria Ruiz, junior Sondos Moursy and senior Regan Lobodzinski finished inside the top twenty.
Ruiz’s time stopped at 18:21.0 enough to earn a rank of 12. Moursy and Lobodzinski followed respectively earning 13th (18:22.6) and 14th (18:36.8). Capping of the women’s team sophomore Zosia Bulhak finished inside the top twenty with a time of 19:02.8.
The UH men’s team also put together a strong performance in the four-mile, earning a fourth-place finish.
Leading the men’s team, junior Brandon Seagraves clinched a top-three finish with a time of 19:07.6.
Junior Alan Elbanna finished 12th with a time of 20:04.2. Senior Tyler Keranen finished 29th with a time of 21:01.7. Not far behind him was senior Devin Vallejo-Bannister ranking 32nd (21:06.5).
Freshman Thomas Crider and senior Christian Gilmore finished in 36th (21:31.1) and 37th (21:51.0) respectively. Behind them, graduate student Devin Fahey earned 39th after his time stopped at 22:02.1.
