Men's Cross Country team first at San Angelo Meet

by Kasey Putman, staff writer

                

The SPC men and women’s cross country teams continue to train hard as they prepare for national competition.

South Plains College was scheduled to run in Levelland on Oct.11, but the meet was cancelled due to bad weather. For added competition, the cross country teams competed at San Angelo, in the ASU Blue & Gold meet, on Oct. 14.

Sophomore Gladys Chumba, who is one of the top two returning runners for the SPC women, placed second with a time of 19:42. Sophomore Meagan Willingham finished sixth with a time of 20:19.

Freshman Lorianne Pattee finished 15th, while Shala Contreras placed 16th, and Ty Green finished 40th.

West Texas A&M won the meet with 60 points, and the Lady Texans placed second as a team with a total of 64 points. There were a total of seven teams competing in the meet. The team’s total time was 1:47:00, and the team average was 21:24.

The Texans competed strongly as well. The men’s team had five of their runners in the top 10.

Fred Samoei led the team, placing first with a time of 25:08. Tallam Kipruto followed closely behind, placing second with a time of 25:21.

Anthony Pequeno came in third with a time of 26:10. Mitchell Driver placed fifth with a time of 26:13, and Javier Perez placed eighth with a time of 26:36. Cole Hoffman placed 13th, while Robert Castanon was 24th, Marcelis Lynch was 33rd, Derek Brest was 37th, Sharif Webb was 38th, Blake Rothbard was 48th, and Chicanel Cole was 68th.

The South Plains College men’s cross country team won the meet overall with 17 points. Tarleton placed second with 57 points, and Angelo State placed third with 98 points. There were eight teams competing in the men’s division.

The total team time for the SPC men was 2:09:28, and the team average was 25:53.

The SPC men’s and women’s cross country teams are scheduled to compete next at the NJACC Region V Championships. The meet will be held on Oct. 25 in Hobbs, New Mexico.

The teams also will travel to Spartanburg, S.C., on Nov. 8 to compete at the National Junior Athletic Association Cross Country Championships.