The cross-country team faced its toughest challenge of the season so far at the Walt Disney World Cross Country Classic and emerged with solid results.
The women’s team finished fifth at Saturday’s meet with 169 points, ending its three-meet win streak. The men placed seventh with a score of 266.
"I knew that it would be tough to win this meet," head coach Ryan Turner said. "We really weren’t that far back on the women’s side. As a group we did well."
Freshman Stephanie Aldea continued to dominate her competition, finishing second in a field of 353 runners. She ran the 5,000-meter course in 17 minutes, 28 seconds.
"This was our first huge race, and it was hard to adjust," Aldea said. "Right from the gun it was intense. You had to stay mentally tough throughout the race."
Freshmen Starla Garcia and Megan Munoz finished 30th and 31st respectively.
The men’s team was led by freshman Nate Pineda, who finished 15th out of 316 runners with a time of 26:06.
"I didn’t do well (at LSU), so I had to pull out a good race," Pineda said. "Although this wasn’t a great race, it was a big confidence booster."
Aside from the challenge of competing with 44 universities from around the nation, such as Florida and South Carolina, UH also got to see where it stands in Conference USA.
"We’ve had a lot of injuries and other setbacks, so if everyone’s back and running great we should do well at the conference meet," Pineda said.
The Cougars’ goal of winning conference is within reach, but there is still work to do.
"Last year we finished 11th out of 12 teams," Turner said. "This year we’ve got that turned around. The guys and girls all have great attitudes, and if we can get in the top five or six we can call ourselves a top-tier team in our conference."
Next up for the Cougars is the Sam Houston Invitational at Kate Barr-Ross Memorial Park in Huntsville. The meet will be Houston’s last before the C-USA Championships on Nov. 1.
Turner said he wants to use the meet as a tune-up for conference competition Memphis, Tenn. He said the meet would give his team a chance to work on its mental toughness.
"One of the things we need to improve on as a team is to start racing when the gun goes off," Turner said. "There’s no reason to hold anything back."
Aldea will use the meet in Huntsville as a chance to try some new techniques as she prepares for the NCAA South Central regional meet in November.
"Stephanie (Aldea) has an outside shot at qualifying for the national meet, so we’re going to experiment with some stuff that she’ll have to do at regionals," Turner said.
The Cougars will race in the Sam Houston Invitational on Saturday.
