The women’s and men’s teams cross country team started the season with impressive showing at Friday’s Johnny Morris Invitational, which was held on campus.
The women placed first with 19 points overall, while the men took home second with a combined score of 43 points.
Head coach Ryan Turner was pleased with the results, considering what occurred before the race.
‘Coming into the meet, I didn’t know what to expect,’ Turner said in a press release.
‘Three of our top four guys are sick, so we just had to ask other guys to step up in their places.’
He was equally impressed with the performance of Starla Garcia, who led the women with a time of 12:11 in the 3,200-meter race.
‘(Garcia) broke away from the group for a while before deciding to slow down to run with the rest of the girls,’ Turner said. ‘Her action shows a lot about her character, very unselfish. It’s about the team first.’
UH will look for more improvement when it travels to College Station to take part in the Texas A&M Invitational on Saturday.
Volleyball, soccer have rough road trip
The Cougars who traveled west did not have the same luck as the cross country team, as volleyball and soccer went winless in their respective road trips.
The soccer team lost both games 1-0, falling to Pepperdine and Loyola Marymount, 1-0, respectively.
Despite the losses, head coach Susan Bush was pleased with her team’s efforts, especially in the first halves.
‘I thought it was a well-fought match.’ Bush said after Sunday’s loss to Loyola Marymount. ‘We battled for 90 minutes. We were pretty evenly matched.’
She also believed the experience was beneficial to her young squad.
‘It was tough to come to California and play two high-caliber teams.’ Bush said. ‘And although it wasn’t a good result, I think it was good for our program.’
UH (0-4) returns home to take on Texas State at 7 p.m. Friday at Robertson Stadium.
The Volleyball team didn’t fare much better, dropping all three of its matches in the Wildcat Classic in Tucson, Ariz.
After losing Friday’s matches to Eastern Washington and Arizona, 3-1 and 3-0, respectively, UH (1-6) took Nevada to a fifth game before falling 3-2.
Head coach Bill Walton believed his young team was on the cusp of victory, but still must learn how to finish.
‘In every game, we were right there,’ Walton said. ‘We were nip and tuck the whole game.’
The Cougars will look for victory No. 2 today, when they travel to Huntsville play Sam Houston State at Johnson Coliseum at 7 p.m.
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